How to Play the Celts: Getting the Most Out of God

Send your foes to the God of your choosing as the mighty Celtic Empire, whether you wish to persevere through centuries of religious strife or spread your faith through missionaries, this guide give you the basics on how to triumph as the Celts.

Intro

I decided to start working on this guide after I looked at the other Guides on the subject of my favourite Civilisation in Civ5 and found them falling rather short or not accounting for my experience with the Celts. Since then, I've done a lot of reading and play testing to figure out how to best use religion and the other elements that the Celts thrive on and see the full flexibility of the Celts as a Civ.

This guide assumes you know how to play Civ in general but will expand on the elements unique to religion and the Celts. It goes into enough detail to help relatively new players but my focus is on showing what makes the Celts unique and powerful as a Civ, rather than a tutorial. Further, while I lay out a strong opening, I try to account for the fact that a lot of Civ is start and ressource dependant; all things accounted for, play style ought to hinge as much on your map as on your Civ, if not more so on the map. Thus, while I try to account for a few possibilities in the opening, by the time you get your second and third city down, I can only offer the most general guide lines in terms of how to build and expand.

Rather this guide will focus on how to adapt and react to various map types and spacing as the Celts, rather than pretending to offer any one strategy for the Celts which applies to all situations. A lot of this flexibility comes from the Celt's advantage of almost always getting first Pantheon and usually managing to gain first Religion. Because of this, you will have a lot of flexibility and your choice of bonuses which are often equal to, if not greater, than many Civ's natural abilities. This Guide is designed to help you pick your beliefs in order to maximize these advantages and play off of further synergy with other unique Celtic bonuses.

In order to do this, I have divided the Guide into five parts;

• The Introduction; which will discuss the Celts both historically and as a Civ, divided from the map. The latter half is useful for some commentary on how to best use and view the Celts Unique Building and Unit.
  
• Getting Started; this will lay out Pantheon beliefs and your ideal opening, up until you unlock a religion. If you are comfortable that you know how to open, it may be worth just skimming over Pantheon Beliefs.
  
• Strategies, Beliefs and Victory Types; Here I will look at the religions and social policies needed to support a move towards specific victories which mesh well with the Celts.
  
• Celtic Warfare; A general overview on how to best exploit Pictish Warriors both as an offensive and defensive Civ.
  
• Overview; This section is more indepth and focuses on individual beliefs, wonders and policy trees in their individual forms. This is handy if you want to mix and match a bit more or see my rationale for certain parts of the Guide. If you find anything that you disagree with me on, please refer to this section and give your argument; I've revised this guide a few times after further play and discussion and I would love imput on it.

One final note is that I have avoided screen shots; as stated above, there isn't much point in demonstrating particular starts since this will vary greatly from game to game. I've gone for slightly more colour pictures and quotes to punctuate the guide instead to capture the feeling of the Celts as a whole and the Civilisations that you are building with these respective victories.

Part I: Overview

History

The Celts as a Faction are one of the more hodgepodge groups, perhaps the most loosely related one. Unlike most other factions in Civ, the Celts were never a politically organized or united, even to this day, as Celts reside in the United Kingdom [Wales, Scotland, Isle of Mann, Cornwall], France [Brittany] and Ireland.
Prior to the rise of the Roman Empire however, the Celts were spread as far as Spain, Poland and Turkey. Aristotle refers to the Celts in his Nicomachean Ethics as Fearless Warriors. However, after Julius Caesar defeated Vercingetorix, the Celts began to decline on the Continent of Europe and by the fall of the Roman Empire, the Celtic languages largely retreated to Britain.

However, during the dark ages they experienced a brief resurgance, Celtic Christianity becoming highly influential, the Saxon invasion was held off and their culture returned to the Continent in North Western France and Northern Spain.

While war and political upheaval would leave the Celtic languages weakened and even lead to the [debatable] extinction of Cornish and Manx, they survive to this day with many people over the world identifying with some form of Celtic Heritage.

As a result of this mixed history, their special abilities and units draw on diverse parts of Celtic History;

Boudicca speaks Modern Welsh, while Celtic City names draw on the 6 surviving Celtic nations using the English version of the regional name [Dublin rather than Baile Átha Claith, etc].

Pictish raiders are drawn from the famed painted raids whose Kingdom would later be absorbed into Scotland and Céilidh [Kay-lee, spelt Céilí in Irish] refers to an Irish/Scottish tradition of social gatherings with folk music and dancing.

Druidic Lore is taken from the Pre-Christian Celtic Faith, which was surprisingly organized and practicised through Celtic speaking regions, even merging into the Roman pantheon in Gaul and other Celtic areas that fell under their rule.

It's from this hodgepodge of history that you shall enact your campaign unite the world under your faith.

General Summary

This guide is focused on looking at the Celts advantages and disadvantages to build a distinctly Celtic play style. In that sense, the Celts are best designed to focus on religion, hold a large empire and aim towards Cultural and Domination victories. It is possible to focus on dominant strategies as play the Celts competantly as a tall Civ while neglecting piety and relying on the natural bonus to eventually net you a religion. In this play style though, the Celts are generally outclassed by Ethiopia and Mayans. Rather, this guide focuses on how to play the Celts in a unique way that syngerizes with skills and abilities of the faction without crippling them for anything short of serious competative play.

If you play to make the most of the Celts unique attributes, you'll notice these general trends;

Advantages;

• Typically Earliest Pantheon and Religion. You get first dips on beliefs.
  
• Cheap Special Unit which requires no research and keeps promotions. Synergizes well with Holy Warriors so that it can pay for itself.
  
• Biggest Single Building Happiness Boost in the game, individual Celt cities will be able to produce the most Happiness per city in the game, and tied for most piety if cities are built correctly. The Piety gain is free and does not require upkeep or citizens.
  
• Once you get Mining, chopping excess forests over grasslands and mountains will give you bonus labour towards settlers or wonders early on when you need it most.

Weaknesses;

-

• Victory type has to be decided earlier and worked on through religion; waffling puts you in a difficult situation.
  
• One of the worst start biases, Forests usually mean that your initial town will be usually be over plains away from the coast and half of your initial 6 surrounding squares will not be usable if you want to take full advantage of Druidic Lore.
  
• Religion Improvements can't be guarenteed so easily; second follower belief and reformation come down to factors which are difficult to control.
  
• Early special unit means that you have to produce them early when production is most critical and hold on to them for the rest of the game.
  
• Special Building is Cultural and requires two pre-requisite buildings, making it difficult to rush in new cities.

When the Celts are strongest;

The Celts excel on smaller maps. Especially dual maps; here you can prevent your opponent from getting any religion at all simply by getting yours first.

For Maptype, the Celts are obviously inclined towards a forested map, but provided temperate is selected [it is by default], you will have a lot of flexibility. You really see them at their strongest in Continent and Terra maps, where they can start expanding right when the Ceilie Halls come in. Even maps like Ice Age and to a lesser extent Desert are advantageous since typically, Taller cities are hard to get and it favours a well managed wide Empire which the Celts encourage you to build.

A lot more depends on how you intend to play; Culturally inclined Celts will want a wide open map with a lot of room to expand while Domination Celts want to have enemies to expand into.

When Celts are the Weakest;

Against several opponents without any single one to prioritize, you don't have the chance to be as frustrating by counter playing them. Further, you telegraph your long term plans with your religion which makes you easier to counter.

On a large map, the Celts will find their religion competed with and, if they are building a faith with a very particular goal in mind, then they may see themselves falling behind.

Since you need to commit early, you also are at a serious weakness if you don't know the nature of the map before hand; going for a domination based faith on an Archipelago map will see you suffer for it. Archipelago in general is a bit more difficult for the Celts as forests are not so readily available and they will have to focus on their navy, where they tend to be average at best.

Tall v. Wide;

The Celts are usually recommended as a Civ to go wide and build a lot of cities, however the impact of this on play is something that is worth exploring and considering.

Culture and Science undergo a process which I refer to as "inflation" as city number increases. Science cost for Tech increases by 5% per new city while Culture cost for new Social Policies increases by 30% [reduced to 23% with Representation].

Early on if you are building correctly, then you can have your city output keep up with or even eclipse with Science but by the Late game, you will simply not be able to compete with a well built tall Empire.

Where I find that the fall of begins is around the end of the Renaissance, the tall players will be able to grab the Industrial era first and keep running with the lead from there. Spying is the primary means of countering this, though research accords are also handy. Spying will get more difficult as the game progresses but by the time it drops off [with the national security agency, usually], the game should be ending.

Ressources which do not suffer at all from City expansion are Piety, Production and Tourism. The downside to production is that it is divided up; compared to a Tall Empire which has one or two cities dedicated to it, you will have a lot of trouble going for wonders. However, this does mean that you can build a lot of regular buildings and military units a lot faster and easier than a large Civ.

This means Wide Civs will default towards conquest and culture victories, while Tall Civs will default towards a Science and Late Game booms.

A Wide Celt player then will try to strategically rush "Tall" players mid-game, around the renaissance. If you are in multiplayer, you may even find some allies. The best way to decide if this is worth it is looking at who has the most wonders on the Diplomatic Screen and size them up. Murdering the people who stole wonders is pretty satisfying.

An alternative though is to wait until Mid-Late game turtling under a four city tradition opening, then using your military, settlers and Order ideology to expand rapidly in the late game. This will let you get the edge in Science before turning high tech infantry loose on the world.

Pictish Warrior

"Most of the inland inhabitants do not sow corn, but live on milk and flesh, and are clad with skins. All the Britons, indeed, dye themselves with wood, which occasions a bluish colour, and thereby have a more terrible appearance in fight. They wear their hair long, and have every part of their body shaved except their head and upper lip." - De Bello Gallico

General Over View

The Pictish Warrior is the Celt's unique unit and changes a good bit about the Celt's early playstyle.

Two things remain as bonuses to the Pictish Warrior even after Promotion;

• +20% Bonus when fighting outside of allied territory
  
• No movement cost to pillage.

These combined are pretty powerful advantages and mark the Celts as a strong offensive Civ throughout the match. If you manage to build enough Pictish Warriors and keep them safe, they can serve as an effective raiding force throughout the game. They are comparable in many ways to the Danes, who have no movement cost to pillage as a part of their Unique Ability as a Civilization. The Celts only dedicate a unit to it rather than their entire Civ's ability, making htem more flexible over all.

Early Playstyle;

Two elements of the Pictish Warrior do not carry over to later promotion and will have a more dramatic effect on early play than the other elements;

The most apparent is that each kill with a Pictish Warrior nets you piety equal to half the opposing unit. This means Brutes and Warriors will net you 4 piety a piece. A combination worth considering is Holy Warriors and Mandate of Heaven, allowing you to get a Pictish Warrior for 70 piety.

This makes more of a difference in slower matches, especially on Marathon as you will get more combat before upgrading.

SInce this ability disappears on promotion, I usually prefer to delay slightly and upgrade other units first if possible or wait until Barbarians start upgrading towards Pikemen, making it difficult to keep netting piety.

The second is that the Picts have No bonus against Cavalry as Spearmen do, which makes opposing a Cavalry heavy enemy more difficult. Here, raiding and trying to disrupt their ability to get horses might be the best solution, but ideally you should just focus on a different player for early war.

Mid-Game;

Once you hit the Renaissance, you loose your ability to garner more piety from kills but you gain the 50% advantage over the Cavalry which you were lacking before. As the Map starts to fill up, it will the former-Pictish Raiders will become a more exclusively offensive unit. The main disadvantage, I find against comparative units is the lack of Mobility; The Celts have difficulty over all rough terrain which civs like the Danes, Iroquois and Incans lack. The solution to this is promotion towards either Mobility or Amphibious.

Due to this lack of mobility, Drill and Shock are both fairly viable depending on map style and your opponents. Drill is usually what is recommended, but the Celts are able to move faster and do more damage over flatter terrain. Cavalry is less of a threat and other civilizations like Incans can't use their advantages to out pace you.

Late-Game;

Eventually Pikemen become Lancers and suffer penalties to city attacks. By this point however, you should be focusing on a more balanced army with your Pictish units serving as dedicated raiders; raizing enemy ressources and finishing off units, while allowing Gunpowder units and Artillery to do the main share of the fighting. Used effectively, Lancers can effectively pillage and heal themselves throughout enemy terrain and be out of range well before retaliation can hit them. The main downside being your inability to replace Picts at this late stage in the game, though this also makes them effective bait if you are able to set a devastating enough trap.

After this, promotion to Anti-Tank and Gunship generally keep in line with this trend.

If you have been playing a Domination or combat heavy game, then you should be fairly well promoted; pick up Blitzkrieg and Charge to make them very effective anti-tank/mop up units.

If you have been mostly keeping a handful in reserve and playing defensively, then this is where a lack of promotions will really start to sting. In this case, try to keep them positioned on flanks and avoid serious combat but focus more on hit and run while relying on free passage from friends and allies. Here, their raiding ability will be key while their ability to do combat is marginalized enough against agressive players to make it not worth risking them.

Ceilidh Hall

"Music is the brandy of the damned"
-George Bernard Shaw

The Ceilidh hall comes relatively late into the game for the Celts. It's the biggest flat happiness bonus that you can get from a single building in Civ5, and this is a great boon for the expansive Celtic Civ. By the time it arrives, you will likely have upgraded your Pictish Warriors and Druidic Lore should only be a relatively minor contributor to your piety. The Ceilidh hall opens up the mid-game for the Irish and allows a second wave of expansion.

For a Domination victory, this means once you upgrade your Picts, you can start expanding more rapidly. Holy Warrior can now be used to suppliment your forces with whatever is missing, rather than just focusing on trying to keep the Piety-Pict combo going. So long as you are careful and economically stable, you should be able to stay in the green with happiness.

For a more peaceful game as the Celts, you should start sending out a new wave of settlers now. There should still be a few unsettled gaps that will quickly begin filling in. These cities can remain relatively small, but serve as footholds for spreading your faith and caravans as well as allowing you to prop up faith based buildings.

Terra is ideal for more pacifist Celts as it gives you a pretty wide expanse of open land to claim which other civs might have trouble with. However, even Continents and Fractal will likely have some bare areas of the map for you to settle in the "New World", though when opposings Civs are on the continet, they tend to have more to say about your new found colonial ambitions.

To Do

So, for a while, I believed this guide was fairly complete. I was able to use it to comfortably play against Empire level AI (where I usually played Prince/King with other Civs) and perform at least decently in the average game. Since then, I've improved a lot so I'm going to try to give this guide one last rework before I begin to switch over to Civ6.

I hope to eventually include a section on playing against Immortal/Deity level AI, which is very distinct from Multiplayer play and forces slightly more subtle play.

I am also going to rework/add a summary of useful civics, policies, beliefs and wonders. I'm not sure how exhaustive I want to be here, but I hope to at least list some of the most "generally useful" of each category and list a few "circumstantially useful" ones and when they should be considered.

I've also added a guide on Celtic place-names which should be applicable if Celts reappear in Civ6.

Any feedback in the meantime is welcome.

Part II: Getting Started

This covers the early game up until the point that you first gain your religion. This is usually only a handful of turns but during this you will want to try to evaluate your position on the map and plan accordingly.

Early Priorities

This section sums up elements of the Celts that apply to you no matter which victory you are going towards and what you should focus on early on in the game.

Initial Settlement

The Celts have their start bias near forests which isn't always abided by but ideally you should start next to three. If moving your Settler into these conditions would delay you more than a turn, be willing to settle next to one forest tile without a luxury or other ressource that you'll want to cut down later.

It is in the beginning that Druidic Grove most comes into play as an ability for good and ill; the early faith boost will net you the first pantheon and maybe first religion but also hinders movement and sight around your initial city, making scouting with your warrior more time consuming and dangerous (as well as ensuring you need an escort for your early Settlers). If you want to max your early faith bonus, you will also be limited to working only half of your cities initial tiles. This makes building an early monument all the more important. It is also worth noting that roads do not remove this bonus. Other improves however, even Camps and Enclosures which do not destroy the forest, will remove this bonus.

I have seen a fair amount of discussion in Celt guides which recommend putting Lumbermills or some other improvement on the forest tiles later on. This really isn't necessary; usually by the time you get to that stage of the game, your cities will have more than enough tiles that you really won't lose much by not exploiting the three forest tiles. The exceptions here are if you settled near a ressource in a forest or if chopping down the forest would give a significant yield you lack (a potentially high-production mine or farm in an area possible tiles). Otherwise, keeping these three forests is fairly harmless and gives you hard to obtain piety.

Technology

Faith is a huge boon for the Celts and Stonehenge is one of the less contested early wonders. Therefore, its often worth beelining towards Calender through Pottery. In Multiplayer, this is a calculated gamble; Stonehenge is less contested than some of other wonders available and should be possible with good production but there's no guarentee. Even on Deity, it is still feasible to go for this if you want to be confident that you get your ideal religion, but it should be kept for only starts with high hammer yield.

If you manage to get a worker and have a forest start, then you will want to research Mining immediately after so that you can start clearing forests on Grasslands and Hills to make way for Mines and Farms. This will also give the Celts bonus labour towards their first wonder.

From here, you will want to consider either Animal Husbandry, Masonry or Bronzeworking. Bronzeworking is a decent choice, as it reveals Iron which can lend to the Earth Mother Pantheon as well as early military and production bonuses while Masonry should be rushed if you have a Stone Circles Pantheon. Animal Husbandry reveals Horses which allow Circuses that can be essential if a player intends to expand quickly. Sailing can be ignored for some time or grabbed early depending on whether you are landlocked.

In Multiplayer, it is worth it is worth grabbing Writing and Philosophy at some point during this process while workers are occupied improving already researched ressources. In Deity, your focus should be on securing Caravans and Pictish Warriors.

Pantheon Belief

"And every ancient Ollave said,
While he bent down his fading head.
'He drives away the Northern cold.'
They will not hush, the leaves a-flutter round me, the beech leaves old."
-William Butler Yeats, The Madness of King Goll

With the exception of those aiming for a Science Victory, your early Pantheon belief should be set on acquiring more faith to help you get to a religion.


Generally speaking as the Celts in multiplayer and even in Deity, you have a very strong chance at religion if you take a faith based pantheon. The downside of the Sacred Groves ability granting you a pantheon so quickly however is that you often will not have had the chance to sufficiently scout and you will have to pick your pantheon belief while still relatively blind to your surroundings. In my experience these are your best picks if you are forced to select a pantheon belief before determining your surroundings.

• Stone circles [Quarries (Marble & Stone)]- +2 Faith
  
• Earth mother [Copper, Iron, & Salt]- +1 Faith
  
• Religious Idols [Gold & Silver]- +1 Faith & Culture
  
• One with nature [Faith from Natural Wonders] +4 faith
  
• Desert Folklore [Desert Tiles]- +1 Faith
  
• Goddess of Festivals [Wine & Incense]- +1 Faith & Culture
  
• Tears of the Gods [Gems & Pearls]- +2 Faith
  
• Dance of the aurora [Unforested Tundra Tiles]-+1 Faith

Desert Folklore is probably the most popular patheon belief and for good reason as it synergizes very well with flood plains. The issue is that it's very rare for the Celts to start near desert tiles, especially on larger maps. If it's feasible that you might be able to plant one or two cities on a desert river then you'll want to pick it up but it's more of a gamble with the Celts than Arabia. Goddess of Festivals suffers from a similar issue; Incense is most common on desert tiles and so is relaitvely rare compared to other ressources.

Stone Circles relies on quarries, which is unique out of all the other faith based pantheons that it relies on an improvement which can be laid down on one of the more common strategic ressources Stone. Taking this usually commits you to researching Masonry as a fairly quick beeline, but it tends to yield the most reliable long term investment and is most likely to offer yields near your starting city.

Similarly as Celts are prone to wide play, Copper, Gold and Silver offer necessary funds to keep growing a wider empires and should be settled as priorities. Earth Mother is slightly preferable when guessing blind as Iron is more common than luxury ressources such as Gold or Silver. Gems and Pearls are relatively rare and in the case of pearls require coastal cities and fishing boats which aren't necessarily going to be ideal for the Celts and so Tears of the Gods is a bit of a long shot even when one gem or pearl ressource is in sight.

Dance of the Aurora notably doesn't grant a bonus to forest based hexes and so is stuck on some of the lowest yield tiles. It's possible if you are stuck with a very poor starting position or playing an Ice Age map that this may be your best option, just it may be preferable to take another pantheon belief and hold your breath for your next city.

• Messenger of the Gods- This helps you get an edge in research and I recommend it for those who want to go for a Science victory.
  
  
• God King- A fairly weak bonus early on, it is feasible if there are no faith yielding ressources near you. While the bonus is small, the extra faith can still be decisive in spawning a religion and can give a capital in a weak position enough of a boost to make it feasible until better cities can be placed.

Part III: Strategies, Beliefs and Victory Types

Because so much is invested in religion which is best invested towards particular end goals, you will want to decide the sort of victory and play style you want early in the game. This part explores each of the four possible ways to win Civ5, though additional detail and attention is given to Cultural and Domination Victory. There is also a combined Domination/Cultural Playstyle which is considered as a means to hedge your bets in an uncertain start or recover from a poorly planned opening.

Multiplayer Wide Play

"Kill all the gentlemen and we will have the Six Articles up again and ceremonies as they were"
-Cornish Prayer Book Rebellion

When and Where

Multiplayer Domination Victory is the most obvious path for the Celts, playing into their strengths and ideal on relatively small Pangea maps.

Settling

The Celts start out in a strong position to expand but it's easy to let this position slip by. Your opening build should be a scout and a monument, a liberty social policy opening will allow you to expand outwards naturally to maximize your production. You will want to delay building settlers during this time, until you snag Collective Rule; Stonehenge or a Worker and a Pictish Warrior (or two depending on your hammers) are probably the ideal opening.

For Social Policies, you're going to want to rush towards Collective Rule, move on to Representation (to immediately reduce the increase in policy costs for early cities) and finish the Liberty Tree with Meritocracy. It is usually worth grabbing a Great Scientist for completing the tree to plant an Academy to help compete with Taller Civ's early science, but an Engineer to complete a specific Wonder, Prophet to round off your religion or Great General are feasible choices.

Early on, trade routes are critical to suppliment your Gold income; large armies will be a major drain, as will roads if they are needed to get your troops to the front. Try to get on decent terms with a slightly more scientifically inclined neighbour and get a few trade route going. Whether a city connection is worth getting depends; it gives you 1.25*Pop of the connected city. It is not worth connecting smaller cities immediately and it can be worth it to plant cities 3-4 tiles apart rather than three.

Science similarly will suffer but international trade routes and spies will be very useful here to keep you going.

High priorities for settlements should be next to Hill heavy regions, either on or next to a Luxury Resource. Rivers adjacent to the city add significantly to defensibility as well as growth, while the UA means it is often worth settling with at least one adjacent forest in most cities, unless it would require sacrificing a more significant advantage.

Technology

Picts make powerful early game raiders against players who are under prepared for defence, even with only Compact Bows backing them up. With this in mind, it is usually worth going no further than Philosophy (or even staying at Writing) before Beelining Mathematics and Construction.

At this point war is feasible if you've been forward settled and your opponent has a relatively small army; the Picts' raid and move ability can cripple an opponent's economy while Siege Engines and Bows are built in the Capital.

You will likely want at least Crossbows by the time you assault a Capital however, though these can be purchased from City State Tribute and from early City sacks.

Upgrading Picts into Pikemen should be your next priority, followed by Acoustics to allow you to plant Ceilidh halls to supplement happiness in your Empire.

Building Your Religion

• Pagoda makes a strong opening follower belief as it can keep happiness high through conquests.
  
• Holy Warriors is also a plausible pick, as while it not the most efficient, churning out an extra handful of Picts prior to upgrading to Pikemen can be highly rewarding as can any additional units in a war.
  
• Church Property is the best founder belief, as the supplement to your income will be very handy in the early stages of the game.

Enhancing your Religion

Enhancer Belief: Just War. You do not need your religion to spread except to opponents and within friendly cities. Have a missionary or Great Prophet follow your military and gain

Second Follower Belief:

• If you took Pagodas as your first follower belief, you are likely to want Mosques or Cathedrals to lend additional happiness.
  
• On the other hand, if you took Holy Warriors, Liturgical Drama or Religious Center can help supplement Faith (for Holy Warriors) or Happiness, depending on what is more essential at the time. Both rely on fairly essential buildings for the Celts; Ampitheatres for the Ceilidh Hall and Temples for their synergy with the Piety tree.

Reformation Belief;

This part is the hardest to unlock since it relies on Culture which is harder for the Celts to grab than faith. Barring a rush and a bit of luck, you likely won`t get your pick in larger maps. Here are some of the better choices open to you however;

• Jesuit Education and For The Glory of God help you catch up on your science which will lag behind Taller Empires. These are the ideal Reformations and significantly stronger than alternatives for late game play.
  
• Sacred Sites is particularly interesting Reformation if you took Pagodas and Cathedrals/Mosques. See the section below for additional details.
  
• Underground sects and Evangelism synergize fairly well with Just War for particularly stubborn cities.
  
• Heathen Conversion is an odd niche which is often under-estimated as a late game tool; with large conquests and in games with tall culture heavy Civs, your Happiness will inevitably take hits. Heathen Conversion can turn late game Rebel spawns into free troops, making up slightly for lost hammers.
  
• Religious Fervour is useable but is highly inefficient, similar to Holy Warriors. Unlike Holy Warriors however, it comes so late in the game, that the units snagged are not going to make any key difference and the faith is likely better spent on Great Persons.

Ideology

The Autocratic tree is about the only tree that helps with offensive wars. If you are still in a strong enough position to keep other civs at bay even when you are winning or have been building up for a last wave, then this is your ideal.

Order is helpful if you are dealing with opponents on multiple fronts and will have to fight defensively; once you get Iron Curtain, you can turn everything into a bloody war of attrition.

Freedom isn't awful here, but most of their relevant abilities are stuck on tier two, which limits you.

Autocracy;

• Elite Forces is a solid first pick, while Mobilization or Espionage make decent later choices.
  
• Police Force and Nationalism are musts.
  
• And finally, Clausewitz will have you humming March of the Valkyries as your remaining Pictish Gunships hover menacingly over the smoking ruins of your opponents tiles.

Multiplayer Cultural Play

Across the sea will come Adze-head, crazed in the head,
his cloak with hole for the head, his stick bent in the head.
He will chant impieties from a table in the front of his house;
all his people will answer: "so be it, so be it."
-Murchiú's Life of Saint Patrick


With a map where there are over three other human players, a purely cultural victory is fairly unlikely as counters are easily available once the World Congress becomes open in the mid-Renaissance. However, Culturally influencing Taller, more science oriented, Civs is feasible and this has 3 primary advantages.

• First: Trade routes yield additional science to you and Spies operate at effectively higher ranks and can move more quickly. This helps make up for the Science penalty with a wide Empire.
  
• Second: Reduced Resistance and Population loss from Invasion.
  
• Third: Influencing Ideology. Players who chose an opposing ideology can lose significant happiness which can lend further danger to rapid raiding warfare that late game Celtic Lancers and Gunships can do, reducing your opponent's ability to use hammers.

Further conquering cities flips both wonders and Great Works in that city.

To maximize this strategy, you will want your faith to be;

• Church Property- An early supplement to your income is really helpful in early expansion.
  
• Pagodas- A faith and happiness producing building which can be used to rush tourism with Sacred Sites.
  
• Cathedrals-The lack of happiness makes this less of a priority than Pagodas but allows for easy placing of Artists before Museums.
  
• Itinerant Preachers-Spreading Religion as wide as possible as early as possible is key.
  
• Sacred Sites-A bonus +2 Tourism per city is a huge boon not to be under estimated.

Liberty, Piety, Rationalism is the ideal policy route, as even with powerful spies, lagging science is a threat. If possible spare policies in Aesthetics and passing the Artistic Funding resolution are powerful but unlikely boons.

This strategy makes a decent combination with Domination for a mid-game blitz, though it requires a rush towards Writers (Philosophy) and Artists (Guilds) which can slow early rushes. Targeting Civilizations with their own religions and high-culture output can help the cultural spread.

Multiplayer Tall Play

"With all good cheer
He spake and laughed, then entered with his twain
Camelot, a city of shadowy palaces
And stately, rich in emblem and the work
Of ancient kings who did their days in stone;
Which Merlin's hand, the Mage at Arthur's court,
Knowing all arts, had touched, and everywhere
At Arthur's ordinance, tipt with lessening peak
And pinnacle, and had made it spire to heaven."
-Idylls of the King by Alfred Tennyson

When and Where

Tall play style as the Celts makes slightly less use of their unique abilities but is a easier strategy on larger, more ocean dependant maps.

Settling

When building tall, it is best to open with two scouts to hunt ruins and the Tradition policy tree. One option is to take Monument to the Gods and grab Aristocracy to rush Stonehenge early on, though if your start allows for high faith yields with a different Pantheon then this allows for an earlier Settler Rush to grab optimal city locations.

Unlike with wide play, defensibility is less critical to these cities and an eye should be paid to maximising Luxury Resources and potential growth near the city. River adjacent tiles are still highly useful for unique buildings.

Technology

Rushing Philosophy and Construction allow for a highly defensible Civ and gives you a shot at an early National Library which helps maximise Science yields early on. If isolated, rushing towards Universities and Observatories before quickly teching back can be useful and allow you to grab religion based wonders.

Building Your Religion

• Tithe makes a powerful founder belief for Tall Cities, especially if you are not particularly interested in spreading your advantages to other cives.
  
• Pagoda is less useful for the tall player than for the wide; at best it gives a relatively minor yield in exchange for faith, but remains a powerful pick and so it should be chosen early.
  
• Religious Community is the best possible choice for a Tall Civ, signficiantly increase a large City's production yield.
  
• Swords into Plowshares This is notable as a pitfall in multiplayer Civ; it is very easy for a distant Civ to undermine your growth bonus by declaring war from a distance.
  
  

  Enhancing your Religion

  
  Enhancer Belief: Just War. You do not need your religion to spread except to opponents and within friendly cities. Have a missionary or Great Prophet follow your military and gain
  
  Second Follower Belief:
  
  • If you took Pagodas as your first follower belief, you are likely to want Mosques or Cathedrals to lend additional happiness.
    
  • On the other hand, if you took Holy Warriors, Liturgical Drama or Religious Center can help supplement Faith (for Holy Warriors) or Happiness, depending on what is more essential at the time. Both rely on fairly essential buildings for the Celts; Ampitheatres for the Ceilidh Hall and Temples for their synergy with the Piety tree.
  
  

  Reformation Belief;

  
  This part is the hardest to unlock since it relies on Culture which is harder for the Celts to grab than faith. Barring a rush and a bit of luck, you likely won`t get your pick in larger maps. Here are some of the better choices open to you however;
  
  
  • Jesuit Education and For The Glory of God help you catch up on your science which will lag behind Taller Empires. These are the ideal Reformations and significantly stronger than alternatives for late game play.
    
  • Sacred Sites is particularly interesting Reformation if you took Pagodas and Cathedrals/Mosques. See the section below for additional details.
    
  • Underground sects and Evangelism synergize fairly well with Just War for particularly stubborn cities.
    
  • Heathen Conversion is an odd niche which is often under-estimated as a late game tool; with large conquests and in games with tall culture heavy Civs, your Happiness will inevitably take hits. Heathen Conversion can turn late game Rebel spawns into free troops, making up slightly for lost hammers.
    
  • Religious Fervour is useable but is highly inefficient, similar to Holy Warriors. Unlike Holy Warriors however, it comes so late in the game, that the units snagged are not going to make any key difference and the faith is likely better spent on Great Persons.
  
  

  Ideology

  
  The Autocratic tree is about the only tree that helps with offensive wars. If you are still in a strong enough position to keep other civs at bay even when you are winning or have been building up for a last wave, then this is your ideal.
  
  Order is helpful if you are dealing with opponents on multiple fronts and will have to fight defensively; once you get Iron Curtain, you can turn everything into a bloody war of attrition.
  
  Freedom isn't awful here, but most of their relevant abilities are stuck on tier two, which limits you.
  
  Autocracy;
  
  • Elite Forces is a solid first pick, while Mobilization or Espionage make decent later choices.
    
  • Police Force and Nationalism are musts.
    
  • And finally, Clausewitz will have you humming March of the Valkyries as your remaining Pictish Gunships hover menacingly over the smoking ruins of your opponents tiles.

Diplomatic Victory

"I am not addressing my own people, nor my fellow citizens of the holy Romans, but those who are now become citizens of demons by reason of their evil works. They have chosen, by their hostile deeds, to live in death; comrades of the Scotti and Picts and of all who behave like apostates, bloody men who have steeped themselves in the blood of innocent Christians. The very same people I have begotten for God; their number beyond count, I myself confirmed them in Christ."
-Saint Patrick, Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus

Unlike the Domination, or even Cultural Victory, where the Celts have at least some Civ bonus, Diplomatic Victory relies entirely on the Celts ability to get and distribute their faith quickly and effectively.

When and Where

Diplomacy tends to be a sort of back up victory which, with sufficient Gold, can be bought relatively easily. A well managed Culture game may become one of these when opposed by a high culture Civilization. However, certain advantages may be had if it is decided to go for this sort of victory early; especially when you are still in the stage of first building up your Civ. There isn't a particularly powerful map set up for a Diplomatic victory, though there's an advantage to having an abundance of city states.

Technology

If you are on a Pangaea style map, your primary priority should be rushing towards the Printing Press. From there, try to be the first to build the Forbidden Palace.

If you are on a map with Oceans, your second priority ought to be rushing Astronomy.

Finally, bee-line towards Factories in order to gain an early Ideology.

Religion

Founder Belief

- When founding your Religion here, you want to grab the founder belief "Papal primacy", this will give you a major advantage with city states as it increases the resting point significantly.

Follower Beliefs

- Here there aren't any particularly advantageous beliefs to a Diplomatic victory. There is the option to go for Holy Warriors to keep yourself protected or try to support your expansion. Alternatively, happiness bonuses or production are options.

Enhancer Beliefs

- Religious texts is probably your best choice as it will ensure that you spread farthest. Holy Order makes for a decent combination with the Greast Mosque of Djenne if you are willing to do a lot of leg work with your Missionaries and negociate your share of free passage agreements.

Reformation Belief

- If you are interested in pursuing the Piety Tree, you may want to get the Charitable missions reformation belief to give your influence boots from gifts a +30% increase.

Social Policies

Tradition makes the Strongest opening choice here. Liberty can serve as an alternative on a continental/island map, as it can grant you a Great Admiral which can mean the difference in whether you are the founding member of the Global congress.

After these, Patronage is the most obvious second choice; Consulates is the key ability- with this, combined with Papal Primacy, the resting point with city states is just short of Friendship. Piety however can make a surprisingly powerful alternative considering both the gold bonus through Theocracy and reform belief which boosts influence through gifts.

Commerce or Exploration are also powerful choices for later game which can compete with Rationalism in this play style.

Ideology

Liberty is the best ideology for a Diplomatic Victory if you have had a solid start and having been vying for it since the early game. If you are the World Congress Host and have the Forbidden Palace Wonder then you will want to get this Ideology to complete a quick victory. Covert Action, Economic Union and Capitalism make solid first tier bonuses; a bonus to rigging city state elections, a bonus to trade routes and happiness are pretty solid. Second tier, Volunteer Army and Arsenal of Democracy give you a way to increase influence with city states in a pinch. Finally Treaty Organization should be the game ending policy as it gives you a significant boost to influence with any given city state.

If you are the darkhorse or else you find yourself up against players or higher level AI opponents, Autocracy makes a decent game ending choice. The bonus to the Military will allow you to hit your primary rival, ideally snagging Forbidden Palace while Gunboat diplomacy will give you a significant bonus to friendship for parking some of your military near city states

Scientific Victory

"For authority proceeds from true reason, but reason certainly does not proceed from authority. For every authority which is not upheld by true reason is seen to be weak, whereas true reason is kept firm and immutable by her own powers and does not require to be confirmed by the assent of any authority."
-Johannes Scotus Eriugena

When and Where

Probably one of the more interesting ways to build the Celts and use religion, it is no less valid. You will want this lay out only on maps where the other Civs are really going to contest your religion. This build banks on the idea that you will able to keep spitting out missionaries to contest rival faiths even if it's your only output.

The Mayans are a slightly better pick for this due to their Unique Temples but Celts are amazing because they can usually preempt this and steal their pick. This is a particularly cruel way to face down a Maya player on a Duel Map.

Settling and Strategy

You are going to want to stall your initial push outwards just a little to make sure you can get National College before going too far. Afterwards, you have a few options; unlike with the other victory conditions, you cannot afford uncontrolled growth but with the Patheon belief "Messenger God" a new city with no buildings will produce 3 beakers right off the bat (off setting up to 60 beakers immediately). With 4 citizens and a library, they will off set 160 beakers up which will allow you through the Classical Era. By End Game, each city must be produce at least 440 beakers to catch up to their penalty. So, if the city is producing at least 50 Science, then it isn't necessarily hindering your progress but ideally, you will want it pumping out more to help you catch up to other Civs.

Ideally however one should start slowly, with only a handful of cities, only to turn a tech lead on neighbours and focus on conquering large cities, while burning the rest. Particular priority may be given to high science villages [next to a mountain and near rainforests] while some may be burnt simply to allow a settler easier access to those ressources.

Worth doing the math on here is the science output of a city;

Each new city;
-+2 Science from the trade route connection, [2.6 with University, 3.6 with observatory or lab, 4.6 with both]
-+1 Per Citizen [1.5 with the Library, 1.95 with the University, 2.7 with observatory, 4.575 with Public School (&Observatory or Lab) or 5.85 (with Lab&Observatory)]
-+1 Per Trade Post, +2 Per Jungle worked Jungle Tile.
-+2 Per Specialist [+6 throughout your Empire for Guilds, +24 for Merchant, Science and Production Buildings]
-Obseratories can increase this again by 50% if you are bordering a mountain.
-Order allows a +25% boom [with Worker Faculties and +1 Flat Increase [With Party Leadership].

Religion

Pantheon Belief;

Rather than maximizing faith, you are going to want to grab Messenger of the Gods or a belief which increases Growth through food [Goddess of the Hunt, Fertility Rites and Sun God]. Another alternative, particularly for a game where you are not interested in expanding far would be God King, which offers an early boost to pretty well everything, but one that quickly becomes marginal.

Founder Belief;

You will want to get Interfaith Dialogue.

Follower Beliefs;

• As a general belief, Swords into Plowshares is good for growth, which is critical to maximizing your science in a city quickly.
  
• If you are going to get a Wider Empire; Guruship is a worthwhile alternative which will allow your specialists to aid you towards completing late game wonders and science buildings. If you throw this in with Secularism, then you can get up to +24 Science Per City late game, with an additional +12 from Guild Buildings which can only be built once.
  
• If you are following the Piety Tree: Liturgical Drama or Divine Inpiration are a pretty strong choices here since it allows you to increase your faith in addition to the maximum that most cities allow. This will let you plant down Science Buildings and/or Great People like nothing.

Enhancer Beliefs;

• Holy Order allows you to throw Monks at other faiths to get your bonus for Interfaith dialogue without any bonus to spread or strength, which will let you aim at the same city repeatedly.
  
• Just War: If you are willing to play a warmonger, Just War allows you to swipe large and somewhat established cities as your own, or clear out enemies from precious Jungle/Mountain Areas for you to resettle.
  
• Messiah: A Weaker Version of Holy Order, you can beeline for the Holy Cities of peaceful AI and areas with high Religious Pressure and grab a lot of science while messing with potential religious rivals. It will also get you out of a jam quicker if your own capital is converted.
  
  

  Social Policies;

  
  
  Tradition is probably the strongest start you can be afforded here; rush Aristocracy and Stonehenge to account for piety lost through your Pantheon belief.
  
  Piety makes a decent alternative or second tree; allowing you to grab Jesuit Education [if you are expecting a wider Empire during the late game stages]
  
  Rationalism should be taken as soon as possible, unless you are close to achieving your reformation belief.
  
  If you manage to get anything towards a fourth tree, then Commerce or Exploration are handy.
  
  Typically, you want to build taller Science Empires, but the Celts do a decent job of keeping their citizens happy and throwing down faith buildings under Jesuit Education, allowing them to actually do pretty well with a sprawling Science Empire. City Connections here are pretty amazing since they give Happiness and Science along with Gold, so it's definitely worth unlocking.
  
  

  Ideology;

  
  This is a difficult call to make; inspite of their general reputations, Freedom works best if you are spread wide and Order if you building high.
  
  Freedom's main advantage is that Civil Society and Universal Sufferage and the Statue of Liberty Wonder boost food, happiness and production respectively for specialists allowing you to move most of your population into specialist buildings and transfer them directly into a +2 Beaker boost.
  
  If on the otherhand, Specialists do not account for at least a quarter of your flat Science bonus then Order is for you; offering a flat +25% boost in every city with a factory and a flat +1 Science. Usually, this will be when you are able to rely on Jungle tiles, Academy improvements and Wonders to push through most of your Science which is increasingly difficult in large Empires.
  
  

Part IV: Celtic Warfare

This brief section focuses on to best apply the Celts and their unique abilities to Combat.

Early Game Warfare (Pictish Warrior)

A Celtic playing towards a domination victory will draw their advantage primarily on numbers;
For the Celts, Pikemen and Picts can serve very well as line infantry; while they are weaker than their Swordsman counterparts, but they do not rely on Iron ressoures and can be produced significantly cheaper [56 v. 75 labour] and their inherent bonuses when on foreign territory makes bridges the difference [Pict v. Sword 13.2 v. 14 and Pict Pike v. Long Sword 19.2 v. 21]. Supplimented with Just War, Terrain Advantages and/or Promotions, they can match their counter parts 1-to-1 while possessing significantly greater numbers.

To further supplement their individual weakness, the Picts ability to raid as they move can makes them as effective at raiding as Cavalry. Avoiding sieges in favour of raiding can disrupt the enemy economy and force them to fight on your terms without cavalry or swordsmen.

A critical weakness against aggressive early era players are chariot archers and Ranged-Knight Units; for this, it is worth keeping horsemen/archers and raiding enemies as soon as possible. Similarly, it's worth promoting at least one Medic and where possible, forcing combat on rough terrain rather than flat plains during the early eras.

Mid to Late Game

Once the Pikeman over takes the Pictish Warrior, it's worth refocusing production towards Swordsmen. Particularly, once Arquebusiers becomes available, they should become the primary line infantry for your forces. Arquebusier promotions should upgrades on them should be focused on obtaining Cover and Siege Upgrades.

Pikes after this should be used sparingly until they are upgraded into Lancers and Helicopters; here, the remaining Picts will be heavily upgraded and their mobility advantage while raiding will allow them to devastate the enemy's improvements rapidly. Pictish Lancers can serve as superb shock troops, finishing off retreated or weakened enemy units then retreating out of range of their defences.

Artillery is a major game changer that allows you to devastate enemy cities from a safe range; Once your Lancers clear our enemy units, you can pulverize enemy cities and move in with Cavalry or Infantry. In taller games where military construction is slower, Artillery rush, supported by Lancers and Musketeers/Riflemen can make a good late mid-game rush against a particularly annoying or dangerous neighbour.

Raiding is a less common tactic by the time Helicopters come into use but this often serves as an advantage; players tend to be focused on defending their cities, while mobile warfare can be devastating on happiness resources. This can be combined with ideological pressure to reduce an opponents fighting effectiveness and even to flip cities. The latter isn't something that can be counted on but tends to really frustrate opponents.

Legal

All Images Taken From Wikimedia Commons Under Fair Use.
I claim no ownership of nor profit from the pictures or art depicted there in.

City Names

For those who like to name things a bit more in character, here's a handy list of potential city names. The first table includes types of place names, while the second has resources which might influence the name of the cities. Unlike in English, the adjective should come after; Talamh an Eisc is "Land of the Fish" and refers to Newfoundland.

Welsh	Irish	English
Aber	Béal, Bun	River Mouth
Afon (f)	Abainn (f)	River
Traeth	Cós (f), Trá (f)	Beach/Shore
Bryn,Crug,Rhiw	Cnoc, Leitir (f), Tulach (f), Corr (f)	Hill
Mynydd	Ard, Binn (f), Mullach (f)	Mountain
Allt (f), Ffridd (f), Coed (f)	Ros, Coill (f)	Woods
Cors, Morfa, Rhos (f)	Móin (f)	Marsh, Bog
Tref (f), Tŷ, Pentref	Baile, Teach	Town, Village
Din, Caer, Cas, Castell	Dún, Caiseal	Town, Castle
Llan (f), Capel, Eglwys (f)	Domhnach, Cill (f)	Church, Burial Ground

Welsh	Irish	English
Ffrwchnedd	Bananaí (p)	[Of] Bananas
Gwenith	Cruithneacht/Gráin (f)	[Of]Wheat/Grain
Gwartheg	Beithígh (p)	[Of] Cattle
Defaid	Caorach (p)	[Of] Sheep
Bual	Bíosúin (p)	[Of] Bison
Carw	Fianna (p)	[Of] Deer
Pysgod	Éisc (m)	[Of] Fish
Carnedd	Cairn (p)	[Of] Stone
Ceffylau	Capall (p)	[Of] Horses
Haearnl	Iarainn (m)	[Of] Iron
Glo	Guail (m)	[Of] Coal
Petroliwm	Ola (f)	[Of] Oil
Alwminiwm	Alúmanaim (m)	[Of] Aluminum
Uraniwm	Úráiniam (m)	[Of] Aluminum

Theoretically, articles are optional: you can have place called "Land of the Fish" or "Land of Fish" equally easily, but it is very common in Welsh and Irish names to include an article between the two words. For instance, Dún an Oír or Dún na Séad (Baltimore) are "Fort of the Gold" and "Fort of the Jewels" which would usually be omitted in English.

Welsh Article

Standard	Next Word Begins with Vowel	Last Word Ends with a Vowel
y	yr	'r

[Erzherzog]

Needs more Orange.

Do better.

[MetaAdInfinitum]

Took your advice and added in more info on Unique aspect of the Celts. I also reworked domination victory; I seriously under-estimated Pilgrammage! I have Religion Builds and Policy order for the early to mid game, but what you want will be dependant on how you want to win. Screen shots might help clarify this.

Tech is definitely something I should work on. I have a focus on the early stuff and some vague order, but I do find a lot of what I do techwise is circumstantial on the map. Especially early on; no point researching rushing to research sailing if I'm no where near sea or trapping if there's no animals about. I mention it where it's most relevant but I can definitely try to expand on it.

[Fredgerd]

Alot of nice detail on Celtic history here, needs a bit more on strategies, and probably some more organization and formating as well. Religion builds, tech and policy orders, etc would be nice. Screenshots always help too.

Thx for the pronounciation on Ceilidh Hall, been wondering about that.

[Lord_Weasel]

Good, but try to add more about the unique unit and building and just more on overall strategy.

[spookeronis]

Daily does of history on Steam, kids!

[Lord Bucket]

Fantastic. Playing this after my Germany playthrough right now.