Zigzagzigal's Guide to the Zulus (BNW)

No other Civilization focuses so much on a single unit. Hence, at the right moment, the Zulus are one of the game's deadliest warmongers. This guide goes into plenty of detail about Zulu strategies, uniques and how to play against them.

Introduction

Note: This guide assumes you have all game-altering DLC and expansion packs (all Civ packs, Wonders of the Ancient World, Gods & Kings and Brave New World)



Oh, great leader of the Zulu people, guide them through a new beginning. Your clan was founded in the early 18th century, and just over a century later rose from an unremarkable group among many to a great empire. The Zulus truly made their mark upon the world. But in the late 19th century, the British would come, hungry for land and riches. The Zulus were vastly disadvantaged in terms of technology, but actually managed to win a major early victory before the British took a more aggressive approach.

And while they would be defeated, and oppressed under racist segregation, the spirit of the Zulu people persisted through the apartheid years and beyond - Zulus having a major role in the founding of the African National Congress, the party of the late Nelson Mandela, and in 2009 South Africa's first Zulu President would be elected. Guide the Zulus through this new start, this unfamiliar land. Bring innovation to this brave new world. Build a civilization that will stand the test of time.



Before I go into depth with this guide, here's an explanation of some terminology I'll be using throughout for the sake of newer players.

Beelining - Focusing on obtaining a technology early by only researching technologies needed to research it and no others. For example, to beeline Bronze Working, you'd research Mining and Bronze Working and nothing else until Bronze Working was finished.
Builder Nation/Empire - A generally peaceful nation seeking victories other than domination.
Finisher - The bonus for completing a Social Policy tree (e.g. Free Great Person for Liberty.)
Melee Units - Throughout this guide, "melee units" typically refers to all non-ranged military units - whether on the land or sea. "Standard melee units" refer to Warriors, Swordsmen, Longswordsmen, Spearmen, Pikemen and replacement units for them.
Opener - The bonus for unlocking a Social Policy tree (e.g. +1 culture for every city for Liberty's opener)
Uniques - Collective name for Unique Abilities, Units, Buildings, Tile Improvements and Great People
UA - Unique Ability - The unique thing a Civilization has which doesn't need to be built.
UB - Unique Building - A replacement for a normal building that can only be built by a single Civilization.
UU - Unique Unit - A replacement for a normal unit that can only be built by one Civilization or provided by Militaristic City-States when allied.
Wide empire - A high number of cities with a low population each.
XP - Experience Points - Get enough and you'll level up your unit, giving you the ability to heal your unit or get a promotion. The Zulus need fewer of these for each promotion than other Civs.
ZOC - Zone of Control - A mechanic that makes a unit use up all its movement points if it moves from a tile next to an enemy to an adjacent tile next to the same enemy.

At a glance (Part 1/2)

Start Bias

The Zulus have a start bias to avoid jungles. This pushes you a bit away from the equator weakening your position to attack, but increases the probability of starting in open land, which strengthens it due to the high speed your units can achieve.

Uniques

The Zulus use an ancient-era unique building together with their unique ability and medieval-era unique unit to create a strong military situation. All three synergise strongly with each other, making very mighty Impis indeed.

Unique Ability: Iklwa

• Standard melee units cost half the normal maintenance
  
• Each promotion costs 25% less XP than normal
  
  • The experience cap for fighting Barbarians (30 XP) is unaffected.

Unique Unit: Impi (Replaces the Pikeman)

A standard melee unit

Technology	Obsoletion	Upgrades from	Upgrades to	Production cost	Purchase cost	Resource needed
Civil Service Medieval era 1st column (6th column overall)	Rifling Industrial era 1st column (10th column overall)	Spearman (75 )*	Rifleman (280 )*	90 *	370 *	None

*Assumes a normal speed game.

Strength	Ranged Strength	Moves	Range	Sight	Negative Attributes	Positive Attributes
16	N/A	2	N/A	2	N/A	50% bonus vs. mounted units 25% bonus vs. gunpowder units Special ranged attack immediately before main melee combat when attacking

Negative changes

• Upgrade cost of 280 rather than 200 in normal speed games (+40%)

Positive one-off changes

• When attacking units, Impis first perform a special ranged-like attack, dealing damage without receiving any before immediately before going into normal melee combat.
  
  • The ranged attack only takes effect if attacking, not defending, and doesn't take effect on cities.
    
  • This special ranged attack cannot be performed independently of the standard melee attack
    
  • If an enemy unit is killed by the ranged attack, the Impi will not enter melee combat and hence take no damage
    
  • As the ranged attack counts separately, Impis get two loads of XP (2 for the ranged attack, 5 for the melee)
    
  • The attack does take effect if the Impi is attacking while embarked.
• 25% bonus vs. gunpowder units

Miscellanious changes

• Upgrades to Riflemen, rather than Lancers
  
  • Impis hence can be built until Rifling, rather than Metallurgy.

Unique Unit: Ikanda (Replaces the Barracks)

A building of the Unit Experience line

Technology	Building required	Required to build	Production cost	Purchase cost	City restriction	Maintenance
Bronze Working Ancient era 2nd column (3rd column overall)	None	Armoury	75 *	400 *	None	1

*Assumes a normal speed game.

Base output	Output Multiplier	Specialist	Great Work slots	Other effects
None	None	None	None	Provides 15XP to all units built in the respective city Provides free Buffalo Horns promotion to standard melee units and access to the Buffalo line of promotions

Positive changes

• Standard melee units receive the Buffalo Horns promotion for free (+1 movement, +25% flanking bonus, +10% defence against ranged attacks)
  
• These units then have access to the Buffalo Chest promotion (+10% open terrain combat strength, +25% flanking bonus, +10% ranged defence) which is obtained like any other promotion
  
• Units with the Buffalo Chest promotion can then obtain the Buffalo Loins promotion (+10% combat strength, +25% flanking bonus, +10% ranged defence)

Total bonus from all three promotions:

• +1 movement
  
• +75% flanking bonus (17.5% instead of 10% strength bonus)
  
• +30% ranged defence
  
• +10% bonus strength in open terrain
  
• +10% bonus strength (stacks with the open terrain bonus)

At a glance (Part 2/2)

Victory Routes

Note these scores are a matter of personal opinion based on experiences with the Civilization. You may discover a way of utilising the Civ more effectively in unconventional ways.

Cultural: 5/10
Diplomatic: 3/10
Domination: 10/10
Scientific: 5/10

The Zulus don't really have a decent alternative to domination as a victory path, but that's where they excel above most. Your reduced melee maintenance cost doesn't apply to renaissance and later units, so it's impractical for the Gunboat Diplomacy tenet.

Similar Civs and uniques

Overall

A huge focus on a single mid-game UU is a feature the Zulus have in common with China. For both Civs, their uniques act to make them more able to support an army of their chosen unit on top of making their unit even more powerful than would otherwise be the case. China is more flexible if mid-game warfare doesn't work; their other uniques support war in any era. The Zulus have stronger, but more limited, bonuses supporting their UU, most of which are obsolete by the second half of the game.

Same start bias

Only the Zulus are biased just to avoid jungle. Egypt and the Huns are biased to avoid both forest and jungle.

Similar to the UA

Two other Civs have reduced unit maintenance in their UAs - Germany pays 25% less for land unit maintenance (although this is half as much a reduction as the Zulu UA offers, this applies to all land units, not just standard melee ones) and the Ottomans pay only a third of normal naval maintenance costs.

If you want to replicate having cheap promotions as another Civ, pick one with a UU which starts with a basic promotion, allowing you to get to better ones sooner. These include:

• America (both UUs)
  
• Ethiopia (Mehal Sefari)
  
• Huns (Horse Archer)
  
• Japan (Samurai)
  
• Netherlands (Sea Beggar, starts with both Coastal Raider I and II)
  
• Poland (Winged Hussar)

Similar to Impi

The unusual method of attack employed by Impi is unique to them - the closest thing to that in another UU is the double-attack ability of Chinese Chu-Ko-Nu. In both cases, the two attacks count separately for XP purposes, allowing both units to train rapidly.

Similar to Ikanda

Two of bonuses offered by Ikanda promotions can also be found as part of a random Kris Swordsman promotion - Sneak Attack increases the flanking bonus by 50% (compared to the 75% possible with all three Buffalo promotions,) while Restlessness adds an extra point of movement (and an extra attack.)

Another UU with a flanking bonus is the Austrian Hussar. Like Sneak Attack Kris Swordsmen, it's a 50% bonus.

The extra movement element of the Buffalo Horns promotion is similar to the higher base movement of Danish Berserkers.

For extra defence against ranged units, look to the Hunnic Battering Ram and Assyrian Siege Tower - both melee siege units that start with Cover I.

Unique Ability: Iklwa

There are two sides to this ability. One makes your standard melee units cheaper to maintain, hence making you able to raise a larger army, while the other makes promotions cheaper hence making each unit go further.

Reduced maintenance cost for standard melee

For the cash to maintain an Archer, a Chariot Archer or a Catapult, you could nearly maintain two Spearmen, a Spearman and a Warrior, and so on.

Note the use of "nearly". Keep in mind maintenance per unit rises the more units you have. Hence, don't just assume you can support an army twice the size of anyone else's. Additionally, as the game progresses, maintenance costs inflate (to match your growing economy) and the difference between few and many units gets more pronounced.

If you want to work out roughly how many units you can support, go to the "Maintenance Costs" section of "Zulu Mathematics" below.

Aside from cost-per-unit going up for every unit you have not quite giving you two standard melee units for every ranged, you must also consider that the Zulu strategy of warmongering often leaves you few friends for International Trade Routes. You'll probably rely on lower-profit City-States, bringing you a little less cash to maintain units with.

Besides the mechanics of this feature of the UA, it brings up some interesting strategic choices. Because you can support nearly twice as many melee units for every ranged, it becomes practical to have a minimal number of ranged units. Most warmongers will use them extensively due to their ability to deal out damage without receiving any, but the Zulus can swarm enemies with melee and take advantage of flanking bonuses.

Reduced experience for promotions

This is the more interesting half of the UA, and goes well with both the Impi and Ikhanda. Your units need roughly 25% less XP for each promotion, meaning you can get to the top levels of them faster. For more information on precise numbers, see the "Promotion Experience" section of "Zulu Mathematics" below.

For new units, this extra XP starts to have an impact in the Industrial Era - cities with Military Academies now make units with three promotions rather than two. If a city has that and Brandenburg Gate along with the Total War tenet from the Autocracy ideology, you can squeeze out four promotions - getting melee units straight to the March promotion, or ranged units to Logistics or Range!

Getting promotions slightly earlier may give you a chance to heal up your unit when they may have otherwise died. At 273 XP and higher, your UA essentially provides you with an extra promotion (at 280 XP, other Civs would have 7 promotions while the Zulus have 8.)

Zulu Mathematics

Please note: This section has very little in the way of strategy. This is only for the sake of those who want to put more precise figures on game mechanics altered by the Zulu UA. For most people, skip ahead to the next section.

Additionally, "melee" in this section means "standard melee".

Maintenance Costs

Following is a rough guide to maintenance costs based on normal speed games. Note that all gold values are approximate and may vary slightly. "Above" doesn't take into account having more than 50 units. Costs per unit still rise beyond that point, but progressively slowly.

If you want to find out how many units you have overall, open the military overview. The number saying "in use" under "supply" is the same as the number of units you have. Unfortunately, there appears to be no easy way to find out how many standard melee units you have, so just subtract the civilian and ranged units from the total.

Costs per unit: Turn 1

• 0.25 for standard melee, 0.5 otherwise

Costs per unit: Turn 20

• Under 5 units: 0.25 for melee, 0.5 otherwise
  
• Under 9 units: 0.315 for melee, 0.63 otherwise
  
• Above: 0.335 for melee, 0.67 otherwise

Costs per unit: Turn 50

• Under 5 units: 0.375 for melee, 0.75 otherwise
  
• Under 21 units: 0.45 for melee, 0.9 otherwise
  
• Above: 0.465 for melee, 0.93 otherwise

Costs per unit: Turn 100

• Under 5 units: 0.65 for melee, 1.3 otherwise
  
• Under 37 units: 0.7 for melee, 1.4 otherwise
  
• Above: 0.75 for melee, 1.5 otherwise

Costs per unit: Turn 150

• Under 5 units: 0.9 for melee, 1.8 otherwise
  
• Under 17 units: 0.95 for melee, 1.9 otherwise
  
• Under 49 units: 1 for melee, 2 otherwise
  
• Above: 1.05 for melee, 2.1 otherwise

Costs per unit: Turn 200

• Under 5 units: 1.15 for melee, 2.3 otherwise
  
• Under 9 units: 1.2 for melee, 2.4 otherwise
  
• Under 13 units: 1.25 for melee, 2.5 otherwise
  
• Under 29 units: 1.3 for melee, 2.6 otherwise
  
• Above: 1.35 for melee, 2.7 otherwise

Costs per unit: Turn 250

• Under 5 units: 1.4 for melee, 2.8 otherwise
  
• Under 9 units: 1.5 for melee, 3 otherwise
  
• Under 13 units: 1.6 for melee, 3.2 otherwise
  
• Under 25 units: 1.65 for melee, 3.3 otherwise
  
• Under 37 units: 1.7 for melee, 3.4 otherwise
  
• Above: 1.75 for melee, 3.5 otherwise

Costs per unit: Turn 300

• Under 5 units: 1.75 for melee, 3.5 otherwise
  
• Under 9 units: 1.6 for melee, 3.8 otherwise
  
• Under 13 units: 1.85 for melee, 3.9 otherwise
  
• Under 17 units: 2 for melee, 4 otherwise
  
• Under 21 units: 2.05 for melee, 4.1 otherwise
  
• Under 29 units: 2.1 for melee, 4.2 otherwise
  
• Under 37 units: 2.15 for melee, 4.3 otherwise
  
• Above: 2.2 for melee, 4.4 otherwise

Costs per unit: Turn 350

• Under 5 units: 2.15 for melee, 4.3 otherwise
  
• Under 9 units: 2.25 for melee, 4.5 otherwise
  
• Under 13 units: 2.4 for melee, 4.8 otherwise
  
• Under 17 units: 2.45 for melee, 4.9 otherwise
  
• Under 21 units: 2.5 for melee, 5 otherwise
  
• Under 25 units: 2.55 for melee, 5.1 otherwise
  
• Under 29 units: 2.6 for melee, 5.2 otherwise
  
• Under 37 units: 2.65 for melee, 5.3 otherwise
  
• Under 45 units: 2.7 for melee, 5.4 otherwise
  
• Above: 2.75 for melee, 5.5 otherwise

Costs per unit: Turn 400

• Under 5 units: 2.5 for melee, 5 otherwise
  
• Under 9 units: 2.7 for melee, 5.4 otherwise
  
• Under 13 units: 2.85 for melee, 5.7 otherwise
  
• Under 17 units: 2.95 for melee, 5.9 otherwise
  
• Under 21 units: 3.05 for melee, 6.1 otherwise
  
• Under 25 units: 3.1 for melee, 6.2 otherwise
  
• Under 29 units: 3.15 for melee, 6.3 otherwise
  
• Under 37 units: 3.2 for melee, 6.4 otherwise
  
• Under 41 units: 3.25 for melee, 6.5 otherwise
  
• Under 45 units: 3.3 for melee, 6.6 otherwise
  
• Under 49 units: 3.35 for melee, 6.7 otherwise
  
• Above: 3.4 for melee, 6.8 otherwise

Notes

Remember to also take into consideration civilian units also have maintenance costs, which the Zulu UA won't make cheaper. If you want to use this guide to work out how expensive building another unit will be for your finances, use the information for the first turn higher than your current one (so, if you were at turn 75, use the turn 100 information.) That way, you will rarely overshoot your financial capabilities.

To adjust for different speed settings, a rough way to do it is to multiply your turn number by 1.5 (for Quick speeds,) divide by 1.5 (for Epic speeds) or divide by 3 (for Marathon speeds), then look at the guide for the nearest turn above yours.

A pretty precise formula is ((0.5 + 8/1000t)round(n,2))^(1+2/7000t) where n is the number of units and t is time. That's 1000 multiplied by the number of turns, which 8 divides by, then 0.5 added on top. That number is multiplied by the number of units rounded up to an even number, then the whole thing is taken to an number made by the power of 2 over 7000 times the number of turns, plus one. Hence, in reality maintenance costs raise slightly every two units.

The actual formula used in game is more complicated (likely for the sake of modding) but the formula I've given will be handy for most conventional usage. You can find out more here.[civilization.wikia.com]

Example 1

To put all these values into context, let's look at the midgame, at turn 150. You've got three Workers, two Triremes, a Galleass, four Pikemen (or replacements,) a Trebuchet, a Knight, two Longswordsmen and two Crossbowmen. That's a total of 16 units.

For Civs other than Germany, the Ottomans and the Zulus, the cost's roughly 30.4.

For the Zulus, the cost's roughly 23.4 (5.4 for all the melee units, 18 for the civilian and ranged units)

For the Germans, you're looking at around 24.225 (18.525 for land, 5.7 for sea)

As for the Ottomans, it's 26.581 (24.7 for land, 1.881 for sea)

Example 2

Now to prove that -50% maintenance isn't necessarilly half the cost.

Let's say on turn 100, you have 4 Archers. This comes up to approximately 5.2 maintenance. (4 x 1.3)
If you have 8 Warriors, it comes to approximately 5.6 (8 x 1.4)

Early in the game, this barely makes a difference, but by the time of Impis, it could cost you a noticable amount of gold's difference from what you may expect.

Promotion Experience

Now for something a little easier - the XP needed to promote a unit. Normally, the XP cost for a level from the previous one is the level take one multiplied by 10 (so to reach level 2 from 1 is 10 XP, to 7 from 6 is 60 XP and so on.) The XP cost overall for a level is five times the level multiplied by one less than the level. So, for level 4, you need 60 XP.

Normal XP for level n from level n-1: 10(n-1)
Normal XP for level n from 0 XP: 5n(n-1)

For the Zulus, the total XP from 0 to a level is 25% less than normal, rounded up. Hence, level 3 requires 23 XP rather than 30. The best way to work this out is to work out the normal XP, then multiply by 0.75, rounding up if there's a fraction at the end of it. Here's more direct form.

Zulu XP for level n from level n-1: 7.5(n-1) rounded up to zero decimal places
Zulu XP for level n from 0 XP: 3.75n(n-1) rounded up to zero decimal places

Unique Building: Ikanda

Above: Yep, that's right. Extra moves for everyone*!
*Everyone being a standard melee unit

Looking for something nice to go with your extra XP? How about a whole new line of promotions? The Ikhanda grants a free promotion to all your standard melee land units and access to two more. All the following units will receive the first, Buffalo Horns when built or bought in an Ikhanda city:

• Impis
  
• Landsknechte
  
• Longswordsmen
  
• Spearmen
  
• Swordsmen
  
• Warriors

Above: Don't assume Buffalo Horns works on mounted melee units. Here's the screenshot to prove it - that Horseman was built in an Ikanda city.

The progression of the special promotions is Buffalo Horns -> Buffalo Chest -> Buffalo Loins.

Keep in mind that units not built in an Ikhanda city can never get the special promotions. This includes all units from militaristic City-States. Also keep in mind that special Ikhanda promotions can't substitute Shock or Drill promotions for purposes of obtaining other promotions such as March, so be sure to mix up the promotions you give your Impis.

Buffalo Horns and Movement

This opening promotion provides the following:

• +1 movement
  
• +25% flanking bonus (so +12.5% damage for flanking rather than 10%)
  
• +10% defence against ranged attacks

Most important amongst those is the movement bonus. One simple use of this is to get reinforcements to the front lines faster.

With Impis, you can use the movement bonus to help chase down mounted units. Civs with mounted UUs at this stage will be particularly vulnerable to you (even the mighty Siamese Naresuan's Elephant is dead meat up against the double attack, not to mention the fact that unit and your Impis move at the same rate)

Another use of the move bonus is to help keep units alive. Besides from being able to retreat faster than most enemies can keep up with, you can pillage a tile, move to an adjacent unpillaged tile and attack a unit all in the same turn. Repeating this will help keep a unit in the fight for much longer.


Above: Blitz lets you move after attacking. With three moves, you could attack twice then pull out to an adjacent more defensive tile or pillage after attacking twice to recover some health

As a final little note, it helps even out wars against players with the Great Wall. Three moves down to two is far less significant than two down to one - you can actually move and attack in the same turn unlike others fighting that wonder!

Buffalo Chest, Flanking and Ranged Defence

Because Buffalo Horns is free and Ikandas provide 15XP to new units, you can get this promotion immediately. It's not quite as effective as Buffalo Horns, but it expands on the features besides the movement bonus.

• +10% open terrain bonus
  
• +25% flanking bonus (so +15% damage overall for flanking rather than 10%)
  
• +10% defence against ranged attacks

At this point, the flanking bonus starts to become more noticable. Flank attacks work by having adjacent units fighting the same target and usually provides a 10% bonus to attack per unit besides the one you're attacking with. With Buffalo Horns, it's up to 12.5%, with Buffalo Chest it's 15%, and Buffalo Loins takes it to 17.5%. Together with cheaper maintenance for the units that can receive these promotions meaning you can swarm them, flanking has become a lot more effective.


Above: Minor defeat? Maybe. But look at that flanking bonus. Without Ikanda promotions, it'd be 30%.


Above: Be careful, it doesn't work on cities.

As for the ranged defence bonuses, each promotion adds 10% defence a time. But keep in mind that you can also get lots of ranged defence from the Cover line of promotions. Having all five ranged defence promotions should give you 96% ranged defence - making those units defend nearly twice as well as default. Ouch. That helps to cover a major weakness of melee units.

Buffalo Loins and Strength Bonuses

The final promotion of the three, units built in an Armoury city can unlock it immediately, while otherwise you can farm Barbarians to reach it. It's slightly better than Buffalo Chest, though not quite in Buffalo Horns' league.

• +10% strength
  
• +25% flanking bonus (so +17.5% damage overall for flanking rather than 10%)
  
• +10% defence against ranged attacks

The latter two promotions add strength bonuses, but unlike Buffalo Chest, the one for Buffalo Horns is a universal bonus - something pretty rare. It helps to let your Impis face up to Longswordsmen once your enemies get up to that point.

To Summarise...

Ikandas certainly should be built very early. All your standard melee units certainly should be built in a city with one, and be sure to build plenty. Any units you have that don't gain from such promotions should stay in defence (except siege units.)

Just remember that Ikandas become no better than Barracks in the later stages of the game, as new units such as Musketmen won't gain the Buffalo Horns promotion. Upgrade your old units into them, however, and they will retain those powerful advantages.

Cumulative bonuses

Buffalo Horns

• +1 movement
  
• +25% flanking bonus (12.5% instead of 10%)
  
• +10% defence against ranged attacks

Buffalo Chest

• +1 movement
  
• +50% flanking bonus (15% instead of 10%)
  
• +20% defence against ranged attacks
  
• +10% strength in open terrain

Buffalo Loins

• +1 movement
  
• +75% flanking bonus (17.5% instead of 10%)
  
• +30% defence against ranged attacks
  
• +10% strength in open terrain
  
• +10% strength generally

Unique Unit: Impi

Impis form the heart of a Zulu army. They will be the units which tip the game's balance in your favour. Before admiring their great abilities, however, it's worth having a look at their place in the grand scheme of things.

Impis are Pikemen replacements. This attaches them to the Civil Service technology, which notably lacks military technologies leading up to it. On the other hand, this helps you build up your cities before launching an attack, and Pikemen are the earliest units of the Medieval era. A good idea is to beeline Bronze Working and then Civil Service to get Impis going as soon as possible.


Above: It's worth building lots of Spearmen early to fight Barbarians for XP, culture and gold, as well as saving production. They're particularly cheap to upgrade to Pikemen (and therefore Impis) and money saved on maintenance from your UA means you can afford to do that.

Spear Throw

Now let's get on to what matters. Impis essentially attack twice in one move. They throw a ranged attack...



...before going in for the kill.



This all happens in one sequence, so you can't just throw the ranged attack. It's both or neither. The ranged attack doesn't make the Impis a ranged unit - their promotion options are like any other Zulu melee unit, and they won't build faster with the Temple of Artemis. Of course, this means like other Zulu standard melee units, they're half the normal unit maintenance cost.

The ranged attack deals damage without receiving any, (though the damage is lower than the melee fighting.) This means that when the Impis move into melee, they'll receive less damage than regular Pikemen would, while overall dealing much more. The ranged attack also benefits from the +50% bonus against mounted units, and hence it's quite possible to take a Horseman down in just one attack!

More interestingly, Impis gain experience twice in combat, once for the ranged attack and once for the melee. Together with Military Tradition in the Honour Social Policy tree and the reduced promotion cost from your UA, you can get your Impis very experienced very quickly.

Even more interestingly, the double attack works when your Impis are embarked and are attacking land units! However, without the Amphibious promotion, the extra damage will be minimal, and as always, embarked units unescorted are vulnerable.

Impis, unlike most unique units, require only minimal backup by other units. Ikhanda promotions allow them to move faster, do more damage and resist ranged attacks better so they can take some of the roles of Longswordsmen and Knights (though somewhat weaker at those roles,) while reduced maintenance costs encourages you to swarm your enemies with them. Note, however, that the double-attack doesn't work on cities so you might need a Catapult or two.


Above: You'll love how all three of your uniques come together so well. Your enemies won't.

25% bonus vs. gunpowder units

Above: Look! Hidden among that pile of bonuses, there it is! The mythical anti-gunpowder bonus!

While not mentioned in the Civilopedia, Impis have a 25% bonus against gunpowder units. This makes Impis much more viable throughout the renaissance or against Civs with a technological advantage. With the Spear Throw ability, Impis should be able to beat Musketmen in a one-on-one fight, and stacking flanking bonuses will make that much easier.

The 50% bonus against mounted units they have will also let them stand up to Lancers. Together with Cover or Buffalo promotions, you can take on pretty much any threat in the renaissance era.

So, to summarise, build some early Ikhanda-boosted Spearmen, beeline Civil Service, upgrade those Spearmen and build new Impis then swarm your enemies. Impis are almost a one-size-fits-all unit, though, again, you may want to bring along some siege units too.

Special promotions kept on upgrade

None. Use your Impis while you can!

As always, the special Ikhanda promotions will carry over, it's just Spear Throw and the bonus against gunpowder units that won't. Impis promote to Riflemen rather than Lancers, letting you keep those promotions you earned from all that double-attacking on units that are likely to use them often.

Militaristic City-States

What's better than extra experience and promotion gain? The same again on strong UUs! Keep in mind units from militaristic City-States cannot gain Ikanda promotions. While the City-States you come across will be random, here's a pick of the best units (and thus, the City-States to most prioritise)

Ancient Era

Immortal (Medium priority)

While they won't get the Buffalo promotions, they'll promote into a double-speed healing Impi, and more interestingly, carry the promotion into the gunpowder units line, as Impis upgrade to Riflemen.

Pictish Warrior (Lower priority)

When upgrading this to the Impi, it'll now have a 20% bonus in foreign lands (though that comes at the cost of the Buffalo promotions.) Again, you can also take that promotion into gunpowder units.

Medieval Era

Chu-Ko-Nu (Higher priority)

Double attacks mean double XP, nicely complementing lower promotion costs.

Keshik (Higher priority)

Keshiks gain XP at double rate, add cheaper promotions and you'll get to the good promotions in no time.

Renaissance Era

Minuteman (Lower priority)

In rough terrain, the movement speed of Minutemen is equal to that of Ikanda-boosted melee units. This helps make up for losing the ability to give new units Ikanda promotions in this era.

Industrial Era

Carolean (Lower priority)

At this point, you might have a combination of XP boosts in cities that can get unit to or near March immediately. Caroleans are good units for keeping up with that high standard, allowing you to build up your army faster.

Comanche Riders (Lower Priority)

Comanche Riders gives you a useful later-game speed bonus which stays on upgrade. Now, both your front line and mounted units can be fast!

Hussar (Lower Priority)

Hussars have extra speed, sight and a flanking bonus, making them like a super-fast version of your Ikanda-boosted units.

Social Policies

As a warmongering Civ with a melee UU, the Zulus gain lots from the Honour Social Policy tree. Beyond that, Commerce is a good second choice to back up your campaigns, both with cash (maintenance may be cheap, but you still need cash for infrastructure) and the mighty Zulu Landsknecht. Thirdly, go into Rationalism so your science generation doesn't fall behind.

Honour

Opener

Opening Honour lets you get culture for killing Barbarians and deal more damage. It's a good idea to build some Spearmen early to take advantage of the culture, so you can rush through the rest of the Honour tree in time for Impis.

Warrior Code

This'll let you go into a war with a Great General (likely against opponents without one) while also making units such as Spearmen or Impis faster to build. It's a good idea to pick this first.

Discipline

It may seem strange getting Discipline before Military Tradition, but you'll almost certainly have both before your first war. XP is capped against Barbarians, so this will be more immediately useful. The 15% bonus it provides stacks with flanking bonuses. Completely surrounding a unit then attacking it with all Ikanda promotions and Discipline will give a shocking 112.5% bonus - taking into account the 10% strength bonus from Ikanda promotions, but not the bonus from a Great General.

Military Tradition

Now it's time to get this. Faster XP gain when promotions cost less makes this choice a no-brainer, particularly as you've got more promotions than anyone else to get through and Impis gain XP fast anyway with their double attacks. You never know, you might get a couple of units to have both Buffalo Loins and Cover II, thus being pratically immune from ranged attacks.

Military Caste

This helps prevent your happiness slipping below 0 and thus hurting your combat strength. Ranged units make better city defenders than melee, but cost more in maintenance for you, so be careful about which units you use for the happiness and culture.

Professional Army

Because only pre-gunpowder units can start with the Buffalo Horns promotion when built, (and thus have access to the rest,) you're going to need to upgrade a lot of units. You may not have this in time to upgrade Spearmen to Impis even cheaper than usual, but you'll certainly have it in time to lessen the high cost of promoting Impis to Riflemen. In addition, getting Ikandas up quickly is good in front-line cities, where you can build the Ikanda and then buy units to back up your efforts.

Finisher

Impis are exceptional at killing units quickly, so gold on kills is a useful little boost.

Commerce

Opener

Because you'll be entering the Medieval era earlier than most, you can take better advantage of Commerce. Its gold boosts stretch further due to the fact you have cheaply maintained melee units. This opener isn't spectacular, but it's worthwhile for the little gold bonus.

Mercenary Army


Above: This is a normal speed game. As you can see, Landsknechts are incredibly cheap to buy.

You may already have a Pikeman UU in the form of the Impi, but the Landsknecht still benefits from Ikanda promotions. It has no movement cost to pillage, and that's very powerful with the +1 movement of Buffalo Horns. Double gold from cities means it should be conducting the last hit on them, and you can use that gold to help buy more!


Above: Everyone knows that Shaka travelled back in time 300 years to hire German mercenaries to help with his conquests.

That's not all. Landsknechte never obsolete meaning you can always buy more, and your Ikandas will still see use in the late-game. They also promote to Lancers meaning you can give them as well as Anti-Tank Guns and Helicopter Gunships the Buffalo promotions - something that's impossible otherwise due to the promotion path of Impi. A Landsknecht upgraded to a Lancer is like an Ottoman Sipahi, minus the sight bonus but plus the Buffalo promotions and double-gold-on-city-capture advantages.

Wagon Trains

You'll do most of your international trading with City-States, as few fully-fledged Civilizations will trust you. That +2 gold bonus helps to close the gap between you and them.

Halving road costs allows you to more easily build more - the extra movement from the Buffalo Horns promotion stretches further with roads and railroads, allowing you to get your units to the front lines faster.

Mercantilism

Reduced purchasing costs make buying your way to an army cheaper. This becomes particularly effective with the Mobilisation tenet of the Autocracy ideology.

Entrepreneurship

Not incredibly useful for the Zulus, but leads to a particularly strong happiness-boosting policy. If you have absolutely no happiness problems, you probably won't need this either.

Protectionism and Finisher

Having lots more happiness is a huge advantage which lets you keep on conquering without some annoying unhappiness penalty hurting your units. The finisher can let you pour excess faith into generating a nice burst of cash with a Great Merchant, which in turn can be used to purchase more units. After all, Missionaries and Prophets aren't your focus, so that faith's gotta go somewhere.

Rationalism

Opener

The choice of Rationalism as a third Social Policy tree is to help make up for possible neglect of science and the fact it can provide a useful bit of gold. For the Zulus, it's a "cover your weaknesses" tree rather than a "build on your strengths" one. The opener itself gives you extra science so long as your empire isn't unhappy. Unhappiness gives your units penalties anyway, so you'll want to avoid it anyway.

Humanism

Not a very useful policy to the Zulus in itself, but leads to a tremendous bonus to science gain in the following policy.

Free Thought

Together with Commerce's finisher, you've got some very strong Trading Posts. It's a useful source of science without having to build your cities tall. The bonus to Universities is just the icing on the cake.

Secularism

If you're not onto ideologies yet and need a bit more cash, Secularism is on the way. You won't have many specialists (except maybe a couple of engineers) but science is science.

Sovereignty

This ensures you can afford to build plenty of science buildings and not fall behind from maintaining so many old former Impis. Beyond this policy, Scientific Revolution is next to useless as you won't have many friends and you need all the cash you can get. The finisher could come in handy, but you have to consider if it's worth using up a Social Policy for that.

Ideology

Autocracy is a very good choice. It has a number of bonuses that sync very well with your uniques as well as being the most military-focused tree.

This guide shows the best choices for the first "inverted pyramid" of tenets (3 from level 1, 2 from level 2, 1 from level 3)

Level One Tenets - Autocracy

Industrial Espionage

A good starting point to help close a possible technology gap. Go ahead and spy on everyone, they probably hate you already.

Mobilisation

Together with Commerce's Mercantilism - you know the drill by now - it makes unit purchasing even cheaper. Despite the fact much of your army will be old upgraded units, gaining new units is useful because with lower XP costs for promotions, you can make new units with a lot of them.

Elite Forces

Even the slightest scratch will make your units somewhat mad. With all those bonuses such as to flanking from Ikandas, you'll be dealing an awful lot of damage.

Level Two Tenets - Autocracy

Total War

A city with an Armoury will now provide three promotions. If you have Brandenburg Gate and a Military Academy, those units will come out with four. March/Range/Logistics for all! It starts getting crazy if that city also has the Alhambra. New units with both March and Blitz...

Militarism

Because you need less XP for each promotion, Ikandas, Armouries and Military Academies go further and hence you're likely to have plenty of them. Cover your happiness woes with Militarism.

Level Three Tenet - Autocracy

Clauswitz's Legacy

Not my favourite kind of policy due to the fact it's a temporary bonus. However, it's the only military-based level three Autocracy tenet. Just don't pick it until you're ready for war. You won't want to waste it.

Religion

Religion is not a priority for the Zulus, but still could be useful.

Pantheon

Note that highly-situational Pantheons (including most faith Pantheons) aren't listed here, though picking up a faith Pantheon is a good idea to get a religion going more easily.

Messenger of the Gods

Helps to cover a weakness of the Zulus, which makes it an ideal first choice.

God of Craftsmen

3 population isn't hard to reach, and that bonus production will help you churn out Spearmen and Impis faster. A very respectable option if you can't get Messenger of the Gods or your starting position makes building wider harder.

Faith Healers

Faith Healers helps your units recover rapidly after fighting, getting them back into battle again. Consider escorting a Missionary with your Impis so they can convert more distant newly-conquered cities and make full use of this Pantheon.

God of War

Alright if you're killing Barbarians near your cities (or you share a common border with an enemy) but you'll probably be out-faithed by other players meaning it may be more worth it to go for a different bonus.

Founder

Church Property or Tithe

Choose Church Property if your religion is stronger and you've got plenty of cities, or Tithe if your religion is a bit weaker. Either way, they'll help support your economy through Impi spam.

Ceremonial Burial

Happiness will let your conquests stretch further.

Follower

Pagodas

Turns faith into more faith, as well as happiness and culture. Pagodas give more happiness than the other religious buildings, making them ideal.

Mosques

Less happiness and more faith than Pagodas offer. Although it won't cover the unhappiness created by conquests as easily in the short-run, more faith means more potential for new Mosques later on.

Asceticism

A very easy source of happiness; by the time a city has a Shrine and is following your religion, it'll meet the follower requirement and offer you +1 local city happiness.

Cathedrals

Happiness is happiness. It might not be as good a choice than Pagodas (minus the Great Art slot, it's only half as good for the same cost) but it's better than nothing.

Holy Warriors

Holy Warriors is focused on the early game, but then again, so are your Ikandas. If your faith generation is good, this makes an ideal first choice as a Follower belief (otherwise, it may expire before you can really use it properly.) Faith-buying Impis makes raising an army even faster.

Religious Community

If you've got favourable starting conditions to build fewer but bigger cities, you can really take advantage of that with a considerable production bonus. Otherwise, take one of the options listed above.

Enhancer

Religious Texts or Itinerant Preachers

Decent choices if you're going down the route of religious buildings. Faster religion spread means you don't need to dedicate as much faith to Missionaries and Prophets.

Just War

If you get this far with your religion quickly, you might be able to spread it into rival cities ready for Impi wars. Keep in mind Missionaries lose religious strength from entering foreign lands without an Open Borders agreement, while Great Prophets do not. Sending a Great Prophet in to convert cities, then immediately declaring war when it's exhausted of city conversions is an effective move which doesn't give your potential enemies time to respond.

World Congress

Here's a list of the decisions and brief notes on importance of some. Ones missing depend greatly on the situation you're in. Voting choices may vary depending on your game (for example, if you get lots of Natural Wonders, Natural Heritage Sites may be worth it)

Note that "priority" means how important it is to vote on a matter if it comes up, not necessarily how much you should prioritise putting a vote for the matter forwards if you have an opportunity to. For example, you shouldn't put the Standing Army Tax forward, but if it does turn up, you should prioritise to vote against it.

Arts Funding

Low priority
Vote no

Cultural Heritage Sites

Low priority
Vote no

Embargo City-States

High priority
Vote no

Historical Landmarks

Low-Medium priority
Vote no

International Games

Medium priority
Vote no

International Space Station

Medium priority
Vote no

Natural Heritage Sites

Low priority
Vote no

Nuclear Non-Proliferation

High priority
Vote yes if you have plenty of nuclear weapons, you lack uranium and other players have it or you're the only player with nuclear weapons. Vote no otherwise.

Scholars in Residence

Medium-High priority
Vote yes unless you're in the lead technologically speaking

Sciences Funding

Low priority
Vote yes

Standing Army Tax

High priority
Vote no, unless you have a good economy and can twist this into making your enemies have small armies. If voted through, Nationalism in the Autocracy ideology (-33% unit maintenance costs) becomes more useful and might be worth taking. So, consider carefully who'll lose the most.

World's Fair

Low priority
Vote no

Wonders

The Zulus focus more on raising armies than Wonders, but there are a few particularly good choices.

Ancient Era

Statue of Zeus (Honour Only)

Impis aren't so great at attacking cities as they are at everything else, so it's quite useful to boost their combat strength against them. Helpfully, it doesn't require you to go off your main technology path and Honour exclusivity means few rivals for this wonder, so you have a greater chance of getting it built. Just don't neglect building Settlers for this.

Classical Era

Terracotta Army

The Terracotta Army helps to build your army up faster - so long as you actually get it built. It's off your main research route and isn't exclusive to any Social Policy. Make sure you aren't wasting production by failing to complete it. If you doubt you'll manage it, don't start, just move along and carry on building Impis or whatever it is you're building at the time.

Medieval Era

Alhambra

The #2 priority wonder. The Drill I promotion you get here doesn't raise the cost to the next promotion for a unit, hence with a Military Academy, you can get straight up to the March promotion for melee units.

Notre Dame

A good-for-everyone wonder that lets you take more cities without slipping into unhappiness.

Industrial Era

Big Ben (Commerce Only)

Make purchasing units easier! The advantage here is that as Big Ben is exclusive to those taking the Commerce tree, it's a little less competitive to build.

Brandenburg Gate

Your #1 priority wonder. It's very much worth it to keep a Great Engineer at the ready to rush this, especially as you may enter the technology late to carry on building Buffalo Horns Knights. If you have the Alhambra, rush it in that city for maximum bonuses. The reasons for building this wonder have been explained earlier - it can quite easily provide new units with four starting promotions! No-one has a stronger Brandenburg Gate than you, so if you don't manage to get it, try and conquer the city of whoever did.

Atomic Era

Pentagon

The Zulus build units early and upgrade a lot, so lessening that burden is particularly useful.

Pitfalls to Avoid

There are a few major misconceptions it's easy to make about the Zulus' uniques, amongst other things, which are outlined here.

Beelining Civil Service immediately

This is not a good idea. Ikandas aren't on the way to Civil Service, and neither is Mining, a very useful Worker technology. Get Bronze Working first. It also means you can start building armies early, as you can simply promote Spearmen into Impis and keep those Ikanda promotions.

Building all the wonders listed

You simply don't have time to build them all. Realistically, in the early game, it's a case of Statue of Zeus or Terracotta Army, not both.

Overrelying on Impis

They may be good against most same-era units, but Impis can't attack cities very easily. You may need some Catapults or Trebuchets as backup. Additionally, they're a little vulnerable to Longswordsmen - attack them before they attack you as the ranged attack doesn't work in defence.

Shame Shaka: The Counter Strategies

When you're up against an opponent so notoriously fearsome that even the leader music sings his name, you're right to worry. But the Zulus luckily do have weak points, and are much less of a threat later in the game.

Playing against the UA: Iklwa

Your Zulu opponents put a lot of faith in melee units. Those without the Ikanda promotions (or with only Buffalo Horns) will be particularly vulnerable to ranged attacks, having minimal capacity to conduct those of their own.

Don't forget the power of the sea. The Zulus don't focus much on the sea, but a coastal city of theirs is not too hard to take. In the midgame, a few Galleasses will serve as a headache for the Zulus, lacking ranged units to deal with them. You never know, they might have to call off the war.

Playing against Impis

Impis have strong attacks, but are no better in defence than normal Pikemen. Longswordmen are great at dealing with them. Even regular Swordsmen aren't bad (Impis have 16 strength vs the 14 of Swordsmen or 21 of Longswordsmen.)

Force them on the defensive to the point where they won't risk pillaging your tiles. Focus your fire on a single unit at a time, and burning your farms down for 25 health suddenly doesn't look as worthwhile.

Unlike most UUs, getting a technological advantage doesn't help as much when facing Impis. Their 25% bonus against gunpowder units combined with the Spear Throw ability makes them able to compete with Musketmen, and their 50% bonus against mounted units means they can easily stand up to Lancers. In fact, Longswordsmen will typically do better against Impis than Musketmen will, so holding off on the Gunpowder technology isn't a bad idea (unless you have a UU around that part of the tech tree.)

Playing against Ikandas

Ikandas are unusual as UBs go in that their ability goes obsolete. As such, the Zulus may mass produce units early to retain the special promotions. Attacking them early may be a bad move. Attacking them later? A good idea. Be sure to focus fire on older units with at least the Buffalo Horns promotion, as the substitutes they build will never quite be so good.

In defence, keep your units in lines to prevent their flanking bonuses. Get a good mix of front-line and ranged units. Anti-mounted units are a little less useful, seeing as their mounted units don't get Buffalo Horns.

Strategy by Style

Early-game Aggressors - Generally fighting the Zulus early is a bad idea. If it's a duel map, take some City-States instead and try to get the upper hand some other time. Renaissance/Early Industrial combat, maybe?

Mid-game Aggressors - Put pressure on the Zulus in the Renaissance. They'll be a little battered by war and their happiness may be suffering.

Late-game Aggressors - You'll probably have the upper hand in your late wars. Focus fire on their remaining units with Ikanda promotions to turn the war even more in your favour.

Science-focused players - Get some Galleasses up to annoy them in the mid-game. Place some counter-spies in your cities to stop them leeching off your technology. Maintain your tech lead and they will have little reason to risk attacking you.

Other Builders - Make sure you have plenty of front-line and ranged units ready for their attack. Once you've survived that, the rest is much easier.

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Meta-guides

These guides cover every Civ in the game and can be used as quick reference guides.

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Civ-specific guides, in alphabetical order

All 43 Civs are covered in in-depth guides linked below. In brackets are the favoured victory routes of each Civ.

• America (Domination)
  
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• Aztecs (Domination/Scientific)
  
• Babylon (Scientific)
  
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• Carthage (Diplomatic/Domination)
  
• Celts (Cultural)
  
• China (Domination)
  
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• Egypt (Cultural)
  
• England (Domination)
  
• Ethiopia (Cultural/Scientific)
  
• France (Cultural)
  
• Germany (Diplomatic/Domination)
  
• Greece (Diplomatic/Domination)
  
• Huns (Domination)
  
• Inca (Scientific)
  
• India (Cultural/Scientific)
  
• Indonesia (Diplomatic/Domination)
  
• Iroquois (Domination/Scientific)
  
• Japan (Domination)
  
• Korea (Scientific)
  
• Mayans (Scientific)
  
• Mongolia (Domination)
  
• Morocco (Diplomatic)
  
• Netherlands (Diplomatic, Domination and Scientific)
  
• Ottomans (Domination)
  
• Persia (Diplomatic/Domination)
  
• Poland (Domination)
  
• Polynesia (Cultural)
  
• Portugal (Diplomatic)
  
• Rome (Domination)
  
• Russia (Domination)
  
• Shoshone (Domination/Scientific)
  
• Siam (Diplomatic/Scientific)
  
• Songhai (Domination)
  
• Spain (Cultural/Domination)
  
• Sweden (Diplomatic/Domination)
  
• Venice (Diplomatic)
  
• Zulus (Domination)

[Zigzagzigal]

At some point, though I can't say I've done that on Civ 5 recently given I haven't played it in years.

[walker]

did you cleared deity?

[Zigzagzigal]

Scouts don't get them as recon units fall under their own category.

[Zehk Naerun]

Do scouts get the Buffalo promotions, or does their "scouting unit" categorization prevent them from getting extra movement?

[Zigzagzigal]

The Brave New World expansion.

[Skwuffy]

What dlc is Zulu in?

[Zigzagzigal]

Were you playing on a map type where jungle/hill starts are likely (such as Ring)?

[Alpacalypse]

Every single time I play the Zulus, I spawn completely surrounded by hills and jungle. No exaggeration, it took me 7 restarts to find a map that wasn't all jungle and hills. So, the "avoid jungle" bias is massive bullshit.

[otblock57]

Played Zulu Emperor, got dunked on. Eh... 10/10 Good guide, horrible execution by me.

[Benzombie]

I don't know if it's worth mentioning here but the A.I. can throw impi spears with multiple units first. Like the first impi throws spears but wont go into melee till after the fith impi has thrown their spears.