A Vox Populi(CBP) Guide: The Celts

A guide on how to play the Celts with the Vox Populi(Community Balance Patch) mod. The Celts have one of the most unique and versatile religions in the game. Their whole game revolves around these new options, allowing for the Celts to be played in many ways

Introduction

These guides are designed to help players who are new to Civ but still interested in Vox Populi, familiar with Civ but new to Vox Populi, or even those well versed in Vox Populi who just want to see if there's anything they didn't know about a particular civilization. I am actually a big fan of Zigzagzigal's Civ guide series, and it really helped me learn a lot about the game, and I wanted to bring a similar experience for fans of the Vox Populi or Community Balance Patch modpack. For those interested in the modpack it can be downloaded here[forums.civfanatics.com]

Anyways, without further ado, onto the Celts!

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.
Finisher - The bonus for completing a Social Policy tree (e.g. +33% Great Scientist rate and +25% growth in all cities from rationalism.)
GWAM - Great Writers, Artists and Musicians. These are the three types of Great People who can make Great Works, a major source of tourism for cultural Civs.
Opener - The bonus for unlocking a Social Policy tree (e.g. +25% Great Person Rate and +100% construction of guilds in Artistry)
Tall Empire - A low number of cities with a high population each.
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 and used by one Civilization.
UI - Unique Improvement - A tile improvement that can be made by workers that doesn't replace any other improvement that can only be made 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.
Uniques - Collective name for Unique Abilities, Units, Buildings, Tile Improvements and Great People
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.

Brief Unique Summary

Start Bias

The Celts have a hills bias. This is a great advantage for their UU, but otherwise isn't a massive deal

Unique Ability: Druidic Lore

Has a unique set of pantheon beliefs that no one else can benefit from

Owned cities with your religion can neither generate nor receive religious pressure

+3 in owned cities where your pantheon or religion are the majority

Unique Unit: Pictish Warrior(Replaces the Spearman)

A melee unit

Technology	Obsoletion	Upgrades From	Upgrades To	Resource Needed
Mining Ancient Era	Gunpowder Renaissance Era	Warrior (40 )	Pikeman (75 )	None

Strength	Ranged Strength	Moves	Range	Sight	Negative Attributes	Positive Attributes
13	None	2	None	2	None	Double movement in hills, tundra, and snow tiles. +25% in snow, tundra and hill tiles without forest or jungle(Highlanders) Can pillage tiles for no movement cost Gains faith whenever they defeat a unit equal to 200% of its combat strength

Negative Changes
Does not have Formation I(+33% combat strength against mounted units. +15% combat strength when defending in open terrain)

Positive One-Off Changes

• Higher combat strength (13 instead of 12)
  
• Arrives at Mining instead of Bronze Working
  
• Obsoletes at Gunpowder rather than Steel
  
• Gains faith whenever they defeat a unit equal to 200% of its combat strength

Positive Stay on Upgrade Changes

• Double movement in hills, tundra, and snow tiles. +25% in snow, tundra and hill tiles without forest or jungle(Highlanders)
  
• Can pillage tiles for no movement cost

Unique Building: Ceilidh Hall(Replaces the Circus)

Technology	Building required	Required to Build	Production Cost	City Restriction	Maintenance
Physics Medieval Era	Arena	Zoo	300	None	2

Base Output	Citizen Yields	Specialist	Great Work Slots	Other Effects
4 2 1	None	1 Musician	1 Music Slot	150 when completed 15 turns of we love the queen day when completed -1 from boredom Nearby ivory get +3

Misc. Changes
150 when completed(Compared to 500 to all discovered civs)

Positive Changes

• 1
  
• 1
  
• +4&+2
  
• 15 turns of we love the queen day when completed(Up from 10)

Strategies and Victory Routes

Strategy Ranking

These scores are merely my personal opinions from playing and examining this Civ, you may find other uses for the Celtic uniques that make you disagree with a certain ranking

Offense	Defense	Culture	Tourism	Science	/ Growth/Production	Gold	Diplomacy	Religion
6/10	6/10	5/10	6/10	4/10	4/10	4/10	4/10	5/5

The Celts are a complicated civ to rank. They are almost the perfect in between of Byzantium and Venice/America. Their bonuses rely on picking religious beliefs, which are powerful but you can't have them all, but they are like Venice/America in that they can choose one of several unique bonuses. Unlike Venice/America however, instead of 3 bonuses, they have a massive 10. That, and the fact that the bonuses can be more situational, and often affect similar rankings, means it'd be a pain to represent them all in the rankings like I did with Venice/America. Instead, I'll leave them like I did Byzantium. Their ranking may seem low, but their religious bonuses can boost nearly any of these rankings by several points

Outside of their pantheons, they have solid military bonuses early due to their UU

They also have a bit of culture from their UB, but more importantly their UB gives a surprising amount of tourism due to the musician slot.

Finally, even outside of their pantheons, they have stellar faith and other religious bonuses, making them a top tier religious civ.

Unique Unit: Pictish Warrior

Barbarian: Why do I hear bagpipes?


Pictish Warriors are an essential part of the Celtic playstyle, and one of the biggest reasons is due to how early they come. Just research mining and you can start upgrading your warrior(s) and making more Pictish Warriors. Having an early, slightly higher combat strength spearman can make for an excellent rushing unit, and I agree, but that actually isn't the main reason you'll be using Pictish Warriors (although you certainly can and should rush someone).


I had gotten the Authority opener by this point, hence the culture

Pictish Warriors give you faith whenever you defeat a unit with them equal to double the combat strength of said unit. Killing just 3 warriors nearly gives you the faith for a pantheon, which is important for your UA. Research Mining right away, keeping your starting warrior nearby your city so you can upgrade them asap, and then send them out to the closest barbarians you (hopefully) found. You'll want to build up a few more Pictish Warriors for backup as well.

If that was all Pictish Warriors had, they'd still be a good unit, but that isn't all



Pictish Warriors have double movement through hills, tundra and snow. This allows them to both chase down weak units easier, as well as escape when needed. Not only that though, they also have a massive 25% combat strength bonus when fighting in hills, tundra or snow. without forests or jungles. You'll likely want to send one or two Pictish Warriors towards the north or south of the map (whatever you are closer too) to find tundra and snow. Due to the fact their are unlikely to be many if any civs on the edges of the map, there will likely be lots of barbarians. Your units will move rapidly through flat tundra, and still fast through hills. Do note that a tundra or snow hill without forests/jungles give a massive 50% combat boost


Notice the +25% bonus for both attacking into hills and attacking into tundra

The tundra and especially snow bonuses will likely rarely come up when fighting other civs, but this will prove a massive help in fighting barbarians.



Note that I have one movement in both screenshots

The final bonus that Pictish Warriors have is that they can pillage for free. This means, along with their terrain movement bonuses, is that it is very hard to escape a Pictish Warrior that wants to go in for the kill.

Promotions Kept on Upgrade

• Double movement in hills, tundra, and snow tiles. +25% in snow, tundra and hill tiles without forest or jungle(Highlanders)
  
• Can pillage tiles for no movement cost

Pictish Warriors may lose their faith on kills when they upgrade, but I would argue that becomes a bit less relevant as your infrastructure grows and you generate more faith in other ways. They are still otherwise extremely capable of being high mobility kill units.

Unique Ability: Druidic Lore: The Pantheons

The biggest part of the Celtic UA is that they get unique pantheons, that no other civ can choose or benefit from. These completely replace the basic pantheons, you cannot choose one of them even if you wanted to. Fortunately, there's no reason you would want to, as they are many levels above the pantheons of other civs. Each pantheon gives very different bonuses, and could be the main factor in determining your victory route of choice. The only true similarity in the pantheons is that they all give some sort of yield bonus to the Ceilidh Hall

Pantheon Name	Pantheon Effect	Situations to Choose
Bran, the Sleeping Guardian	25% increase in city ranged strength and +25% growth. +15 & whenever a citizen is born, scaling with era. +1 in all cities. +5 to the Ceilidh Hall	Bran is good if you have a high food start and/or aggressive neighbors. Overall this pantheon best supports a science victory, although it helps a culture victory nearly as well.
Cernunnos, the Horned Stag	+1 & from forests. +1 & from jungles. +1 & from camps and plantations. +2 from Ceilidh Halls.	Cernunnos is most useful when you have lots of forests and jungles to settle in, as well as many camp and plantation resources. Deer heavy forests especially favor Cernunnos. It doesn't inherently help any victory type, but with the right terrain can give you a very strong empire very early in the game.
Dagda, the All Father	+1 , , & in the capital, as well as for every 4 followers of your pantheon in owned cities. +5 hp healed in friendly territory. +2 from the Ceilidh Hall.	Dagda is good for when you plan to do lots of conquest, but know you won't be able to/don't want to do a domination victory.
Epona, the Great Mare	+3 border growth in all cities. +10 , & when your borders expand, scaling with era. +5 border growth from the Ceilidh Hall.	Epona is great for when you have lots of free land to settle and expand into. It is probably the best choice for a science victory if you can secure enough land.
Lugh, the Skilled One	+2 , , & in cities with a specialist. +10% towards wonders. +3 from the Ceilidh Hall.	Lugh is probably best when you already have a good production start to further enhance it towards building wonders. This makes it great for a culture victory
Mannanan, Son of the Sea	+3 , & in coastal cities. +1 & for every 2 citizens working sea tiles in your cities. +2 great admiral points from the Ceilidh Hall.	Mannanan can be a decent choice if you have a heavy coastal or even island type start, but in most standard scenarios, I would say Mannanan is subpar. However if you are playing on an archipelago or other island type map, this is probably the best pantheon 99% of the time.
Morrigan, the Harbinger	Earn , & whenever you kill a unit or pillage a non-road improvement. +2 great general points from the Ceilidh Hall	Morrigan basically gives the Celts the Aztec UA, except arguably better. With the dominance policy from Authority, your Pictish Warriors earn double faith, gold, science and double culture from kills. Obviously this makes it the ideal pantheon for a domination game
Nuada, the Silver Handed	+15% & from we love the queen day. +3 , & for every unique luxury resource on empire, and per active trade route to or from the city. +5 from the Ceilidh Hall.	Nuada is great for a more peaceful game, most likely brought on by being isolated from other civs. Being peaceful means civs won't have warmonger penalties against you, making it easier to trade resources and keep up and receive trade routes. It is probably the best choice for a more isolationist science victory
Ogma, the Learned	+1 per 4 citizens, and +1 on all great works. +3 , , great scientist points and great artist points on the capital. +5 on the Ceilidh Hall.	Ogma strikes a middle ground between Nuada and Epona. It is great for a science victory when you aren't isolated and have some chance for war, but don't actually have a lot of territory to expand into.
Rhiannon, the Sovereign	+2 in every city. +1 & from every resource connected with a normal tile improvement. +5 on the Ceilidh Hall	Rhiannon is a great generalist pantheon, best for when you have a somewhat small amount of land with lots of resources.

Unique Ability: Druidic Lore: The Rest

One thing you might have noticed from all the Celtic pantheons is that none of them give faith. That is because their UA does that for them, giving all your cities +3 faith if they follow your pantheon or religion, which is probably more faith then other civs get on average from their pantheons.



The final part of the Celtic UA is that their cities neither receive nor generate foreign religious pressure. Now this is both a benefit and a hindrance. On the one hand it makes it nearly impossible for enemy civs to flip your cities to a different religion, guaranteeing you still get the stellar pantheon bonuses. On the other hand, it also makes it much harder to keep your own neighbors converted, even if they didn't found a religion themselves. This can make it much more difficult to get the cultural and diplomatic bonuses you can get from spreading your religion. This makes beliefs that scale off of converting foreign or total cities/population usually a bad idea for the Celts.

Unique Building: Ceilidh Hall

The Ceilidh Hall is an interesting building. The biggest part of what makes it an odd building to talk about is the different yields it can get from the Celtic Pantheons. However, as those are moreso bonuses from the pantheons and not the Ceilidh Hall, I won't mention them here. However, the Ceilidh Hall is more then just a receptacle for pantheon enhancement. It has a lot going for it of its own merit.



Ceilidh Halls give longer we love the queen days, as well as some extra yields over the basic circus. They also give a lump sum of culture instead of tourism. This is certainly a buff if you aren't going for a culture victory, but could be seen as a downside if you are. However, these, and even the pantheon boosts, pale in comparison to the Ceilidh Hall's real strength



The Ceilidh Hall is the only UB to give a musician slot. In fact it is the only non-national wonder UB to give any GWAM slot. Even further, it is the only non-national wonder or guild building period to give a GWAM slot. It is also the earliest way to get a musician specialist, not counting Tradition's throne room. No one can match the Celt's ability to generate musicians. This gives the Celts a solid leg up on tourism starting in the mid-game.

The Celtic Victory

The Celtic uniques can definitely pull them in a lot of directions. Their UU is great for early rushes and even scales well later on. Their UB on the other hand gives great tourism boosts, and their unique pantheons can pull them in any direction. It can be somewhat difficult to fully decide what path to take to victory. I'd say the biggest point to determine your path of choice is when you choose your pantheon. Some pantheons do leave you with a lot of flexibility, but many are best suited to go one route. Whether you decide during founding a pantheon, or later on if you chose a generalist one, here are some tips to keep in mind

Culture

A Culture Victory depends largely on your ability to produce your early musicians at a rapid pace. This means you'll need large strong cities. Pantheons that give lots of food will serve you well, as will Lugh. This is generally the best route if you don't have a lot of land, either through being on a small continent or being blocked off by strong defensive neighbors.

Domination

A Domination Victory is almost wholly dependent on the strength of your UU. Terrain is an important consideration. If your first two or 3 conquests aren't in very hilly or tundra terrain, it may prove difficult to get yourself going, but if they are, it is likely the best route. Morrigan is easily the best pantheon for domination, but Dagda is also good if you aren't certain at first that you want to fully commit to domination.

Science

Science is a slightly odd route for the Celts as neither their UU or UB support it, but many of their pantheons do. If you don't choose a pantheon that supports a science victory going for one will be an uphill battle. The science pantheons usually support having a lot of land that you don't need to conquer, or situations where you don't have a lot of land and it is of poor quality. Either situation may favor a science victory

Social Policies (Ancient Era)

If you plan to fight even one major civ, Authority is the best option, even if you know for certain you don't plan to go full domination. However if you aren't, either due to no civs to fight or nearby civs being too defensively strong, it depends. If you plan to go culture, or perhaps if you went Bran or Epona, Tradition will serve you will. If you plan to go science, or went Rhiannon or perhaps Cernunnos, Progress works very well. Afterwards, if you plan to continue domination or most science routes, go Fealty. However if you want to go culture or if you took Ogma Artistry is better. Finally, your last tree is purely based on your victory route of choice Industry for culture, Imperialism for domination, and Rationalism for science

Tradition(Culture)

Opener: More population to build your everything faster

Justice: The early production will help with any early wonders you want to build

Sovereignty: Border expansion is nice, plus this is some artist generation for early tourism

Ceremony: The extra science will help clear up any remaining worker techs

Splendor: I always recommend going Splendor before Majesty because Splendor can give a good amount of culture, getting you to finishing tradition quicker.

Majesty: Will allow you a large, productive, specialist filled capital

Finisher: Get a bit more use out of your great person improvements! Plus hey, a stronger capital never hurt yeah? Have a throne room!

Progress(Science)

Opener: If at all possible, try to avoid growing your capital much before you get this, you'll get more science that way. The culture you immediately get from this will likely almost be enough for the next policy

Liberty: If you don't have any worker techs yet, it might be a good idea to save this for later, otherwise this makes sure you're improving stuff ASAP

Organization: Faster workers, settlers, and even great people all help infrastructure get built just a little bit faster

Expertise: Faster building construction is great, especially in the early game where production might be sparse.

Equality: Can't complain about more happiness

Fraternity: Food and science, both very useful.

Finisher: A bit of gold to keep everything moving smoothly

Authority

Opener: Early on killing barbarians with your Pictish Warriors is very important, so killing them faster is a must. The extra culture doesn't hurt either

Dominance: Because you can never get enough yields on kill. Morrigan approved!

Tribute: A bit more extra production and some gold to buy workers or emergency units with

Imperium: You'll be founding and conquering plenty, so this should be a good amount of extra yields

Discipline: Unless they went Nuada, The Celts have a lackluster economy. This will help patch that up

Honor: Makes your units stronger, gives you more of them, and ensures you can stay at war a bit longer without destabilizing.

Finisher: These units can be a smidge awkward as you already have stellar melee raiding units, but sometimes a quick unit buy in a pinch can be just what you need.

Social Policies (2nd and 3rd tiers)

Fealty

Opener: Monasteries are a solid building, and cheaper faith buys is going to be useful in nearly every scenario

Nobility: Castles are a decent building, but armories are often a pain to build, even for warmongers. This makes both much easier to build, and actually gives even more incentive to build castles in particular

Divine Right: Having trouble with happiness? Your cities will generate a good bit less if you're struggling to build culture buildings. Doing great on happiness? Congrats have some culture for keeping your people happy.

Serfdom: A decent bit of extra yields all around

Burghers: Extra border growth combines well with Tribute from Autocracy, and the production is quite welcome

Organized Religion: This is technically mostly useless for the Celts, but it is still a bit of extra faith

Finisher: The extra yields are decent, but this isn't the best finisher as the Celts struggle to get the shared religion bonus

Artistry(Culture)

Opener: Guilds normally take a lot of production, and now they don't!

Humanism: Various yields from various sources, but they are all useful

Refinement: This should give quite a bit of happiness, which should help offset any conquering you may or may not be doing

Heritage: Some golden age points and tourism, both great to see

National Treasure: You're already getting Golden Age Points and Culture from Great People assuming you went Tradition. Throw some gold on top too.

Cultural Exchange: Even more culture from golden ages never hurt.

Finisher: More things to give more tourism, and maybe production if you went Ogma

Industry(Culture)

Opener: Two trade routes is great to get more tourism, and money

Division of Labor: Seaports and Train Stations are normally expensive buildings, but now they are in line with other buildings. Also a large boost to your production and gold outputs

Mercantilism: A large boost to your culture and science outputs. If there was something for food and faith and you'd have everything you could ever want.

Free Trade: Extra gold from ITRs is always a good thing

Entrepreneurship: Gold and production, the industry tree knows what it wants, and you do too.

Protectionism: Several bonuses to help your gold, science, food and even production

Finisher: You'll have at least a few specialists, so extra production and gold from them is a good thing

Imperialism(Domination)

Opener: At this point in the game (depending on the map type you're playing on) your last rivals are likely on different continents, so faster navies and embarked units is great. The extra production is good, and the cheaper upgrades are great.

Colonialism: If you've been doing a good job of conquering your neighbors, you've likely accumulated a good amount of monopolies, which already give great boosts. Why not make them better?

Regimental Tradition: Great Generals and Admirals are very important to keep your army fighting at peak strength, so making them affect more units, and affect them more, is great.

Martial Law: You might have a few puppets by this point, and possibly some happiness issues. This does a bit to make both less of a burden.

Exploitation: Making your military strong is nice and all, but what's the point if your cities can't gain some benefits too? Plus if you have a far away army it isn't as much of a pain anymore to get them upgraded

Civilizing Mission: Gold to support your conquests, production to support your conquered cities, both exactly what you need on the war path.

Finisher: A better navy, less unhappiness, and making your air units more effective on defense are all solid things to have

Rationalism(Science)

Opener: Lots of science and a bit of production.

Scientific Revolution: Depending on the terrain this could be only a bit of science or a ton, but overall it's usually worth building these.

Empiricism: Helps prevent other civs from leeching off your science lead

Rights of Man: Little bit of food, better villages, probably the weakest policy in rationalism.

Enlightenment: A free tech and more science is a fantastic bonus. I recommend putting it off till this late because the free tech is likely more useful if you postpone it to when the techs are more expensive

Free Thought: Great Scientists are critical in getting through the atomic and information era, and this makes them better at it.

Finisher: More Great Scientists and more growth.

Ideology

The Celts should go Freedom for a culture victory, or if they went Nuada. Order is best for any non Nuada science game, and finally Autocracy Is best for domination

Level 1 Policies(Freedom)

Economic Union(Science): 2 more trade routes for more Nuada yields

Avant Garde: Extra great people are helpful no matter the route you're taking

Civil Society(Culture): Makes it easier to keep up tons of specialists

Universal Suffrage: Can't complain about better golden ages

Creative Expression(Culture): Make your great works works a lot more effective.

Level 2 Policies(Freedom)

Universal Healthcare: A free hospital in every city, possibly before you even have biology researched, is amazing.

Capitalism: Will help with the large amounts of specialists you likely have

New Deal(Culture): More yields and tourism from all around

Level 3 Policies(Freedom)

Media Culture(Culture): This will push your Tourism over the edge and you should be able to convert even high culture civs, at least with a musician or two to back you up.

Treaty Organization(Culture): The extra delegates might help prevent a bad proposal such as travel ban from being passed

Space Procurements(Science): You'll have lots of gold, and it'll now win you the science game

Level 1 Policies(Order)

Worker's Faculties: Free Factories is a nice boost, plus they'll now give some extra science

Hero of the People: More great people is always nice

Communism: There are some crucial late game science wonders, this makes sure you actually get them

Level 2 Policies(Order)

Academy of Sciences: Free research labs to really boost your science

Five Year Plan: One of the largest boosts to production in the entire game

Level 3 Policies(Order)

Spaceflight Pioneers: Save a lot of engineers for when you can build spaceships and win the game almost instantly.

Level 1 Policies(Autocracy)

Military-Industrial Complex: Upgrading your Pictish Warriors should now be easier then ever

New World Order: You're gonna have a lot of cities by now, you absolutely need this.

Elite Forces: New units start better, old units get better quicker, all you could want for a world-conquering force

Level 2 Policies(Autocracy)

Lightning Warfare: Further boosts to your upgraded Pictish Warriors

Martial Spirit: Makes your gun units truly monstrous, but only for a limited amount of time. Only take this when you have one or two civs left to conquer

Level 3 Policies(Autocracy)

Air Supremacy: Free Airports in every city means that you almost don't need a navy as long as you have a city on every continent. Also makes air units quicker to build if you need to.

Wonders

Ancient Era

Pyramids: A free settler to expand the empire

Statue of Zeus: This may delay a potential Pictish Warrior rush, but if you can get it you are far more likely to be able to take cities without support.

Classical Era

Angkor Wat(Epona): Should massively increase your science and culture output

Colossus(Nuada): A solid boost to your science and gold

Great Lighthouse(Mannanan): Makes sure you can defend your productive coastal cities

Hanging Gardens: Makes sure one city is large enough to be a specialist powerhouse with your Ceilidh Hall

Oracle: Hard to pass up basically a free tech and policy

Medieval Era

Alhambra(Authority Only): You may have a melee focused army but there's no reason you can't sprinkle in a few mounted units

Borobudur: Considering missionaries are your only reliable way to spread religion outside of your own borders, this wonder is a very big deal

Karlstejn: It could prove difficult to convert enough to get your reformation belief. This makes it significantly easier

Forbidden Palace(Progress Only): Makes your money go farther, can't complain

University of Sankore(Tradition Only): Science for all the great people you are/will soon be generating

Renaissance Era

Globe Theatre(Culture): The start to any great culture victory

Leaning Tower of Pisa: More great people to do whatever you want with

Porcelain Tower(Science): A big boost to science, especially for an Ogma or Nauda game

Red Fort(Fealty Only): Laugh as your enemies try to even come near the city you built this in

Uffizi(Culture): Broadway: the Painting

Industrial Era

Brandenburg Gate(Domination): A nice help for whenever you need to replenish your forces

Louvre(Artistry Only): Not an easy theme, but one that is worth getting

Neuschwanstein: Should alleviate any happiness issues you might have had

Modern Era

Broadway(Industry Only): Unlike most civs, you have a high chance of being able to theme this right away

Cristo Redentor(Culture): More tourism, exactly where you want it

Prora(Autocracy Only): If you were struggling with happiness, you will no longer

Statue of Liberty(Freedom Only): All those specialists you are likely running just got a big boost

Kremlin(Order Only): The weakest of the 3 ideology wonders, but a free social policy is a free social policy

Atomic Era

Bletchley Park(Rationalism Only): Makes those pesky enemy spies go away, and makes your own spies more pesky for everyone else

Pentagon(Imperialism Only): Boosts your air power by a significant amount.

Information Era

CERN: Two free techs is amazing no matter what you're doing

CN Tower(Culture): More tourism from everything that gives tourism. Should be all you need to win

Great Firewall(Science/Culture): For science, you'll become pretty much immune to spies, but for culture, you want this so no one else gets it and potentially stops your win

Hubble Space Telescope(Science): Science to get to the spaceship parts and production to build them. Speeds up a science victory significantly

Sydney Opera House: A free policy, plus some works slots you can almost certainly fill

Pitfalls to Avoid

The Celts are a civ that offer you a lot of choice. They also offer you a fair amount of flexibility even outside of that. This can make it difficult to find the right path however, especially when the Celtic options are far from normal.

Not Killing Barbarians Early With Pictish Warriors

Pictish Warriors have a lot going for them, but their #1 bonus is their double faith on kill. Just 3 warrior kills is nearly enough for your pantheon, and more afterwards is just further progress to your religion. Get Mining first, upgrade your warrior, and go kill barbarians with your Pictish Warrior. No matter your plans afterwards that should always be the opening plan for the Celts

Feeling Like You Have to Conquest with Pictish Warriors

Pictish Warriors are a great early rushing unit with powerful strengths in hills and tundra. Early war with them is viable and recommended, especially considering the extra faith you can get out of it. However, you don't necessarily need to conquer anything to get a lot out of your war. As long as you kill a few units, you've gotten what you want. Conquering a city is probably a good idea if you can manage it without much extra investment, but if you think you'll need to invest a lot more production/time into a war to get a defended city, it is ok to pull out of the war.

Ignoring Spreading Your Religion

It is difficult for other civs to convert you, and vice versa. However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't spread your own religion. Your own cities can still be converted manually with missionaries, and if the city doesn't already have your religion, it could get flipped. You should still try to convert your neighbors if they don't have a strong religion themselves as there are many benefits to doing so, even if it is a bit harder, especially if you don't have anything to do with your faith based on the beliefs you took.

Ignoring Ceilidh Halls for Non-Culture Victories

The best thing about the Ceilidh Hall is the musician slot, yes, but it does also give solid yields taking the pantheon bonuses into account. You should always build them pretty early in a city's build cycle.

Sending the Celtics to Boston: Counter Strategies

The Celts have one of the most reliable religion founds in the game, with a unique pantheon on top of it. This is further supported by a strong early unit, and a powerful mid-game tourism option. However, this religious focus combined with two somewhat non-synergistic options can leave the Celts unspecialized and weak. From there it should be easy to pick apart the Celtic strengths.

Unwise Druidic Lore

That's probably a Nature check but you could make an argument for Arcana or maybe even History depending on the exact nature of the Druid's lore

Just like other pantheons and religion founds, you get a notification whenever the Celts found a pantheon. So if you see one of their pantheons get founded, you know they are in the game. Knowing what pantheon they have can be decently important in knowing how to counter them, especially if they go for one that especially helps a victory route. Most notably, Morrigan means domination, Lugh means culture, and finally Nuada, Epona, and Ogma mean science. There isn't much you can do to stop them from founding their pantheon though, or even likely a religion short of killing them.

One thing to note though is that while the Celts are hard to convert, they don't convert much themselves. A religious civ may find a Celtic neighbor a blessing in disguise, as they have less competition to convert the rest of their neighbors.

Pulverizing Pictish Warriors

Pictish Warriors are a very dangerous foe early on. You do not under any circumstances want to fight a Pictish Warrior in Hills. You even less want to fight them on tundra or snow. Your best friend for terrain is actually forests and jungles, even, and actually especially if they are on hills. Pictish Warriors don't get combat benefits in forests/jungles, so you can safely defend there. You do want to avoid being killed by Pictish Warriors if you can, as they get lots of benefits for killing units. That is easier said then done though. Your only safe bet is to flee through grasslands, plains, or non hill/tundra forests/jungles. They still get movement bonuses through hills and tundra with forests, and can easily chase down a weak unit. Pictish Warriors do have one notable weakness however. Even though they are a spearman replacement, they don't have formation I. This makes them very weak to horseman, as they have the mobility and combat strength to challenge them. Horeseman will still get obliterated in Pictish Warrior favored terrain, but nonetheless they will do quite well.

Closing Ceilidh Halls

The biggest benefit of the Ceilidh Hall is the musician specialist slot. This can only be effectively exploited if the Celts can get a lot of food. If you can keep the Celtic cities blocked in and weak, they won't get a lot of extra musicians. If that's not an option, and the Celts are going for a culture victory, keep an eye out for their musicians, especially if you are one of the most difficult civs on the map to influence. If necessary, be ready to declare war to kill a musician before it can hold a concert.

Strategies by Style

Early-Game Warmongers: Probably a poor time to attack, but if you must, watch the terrain, and use horseman or skirmishers if you can get away with it.

Mid-Game Warmongers: Upgraded Pictish Warriors pose a similar threat, but it is less detrimental to get killed by them. No one unit type is especially more effective then another, just watch the terrain

Late-Game Warmongers: The Celts are likely pretty weak on the water, so attack from the sea if you can. Air units can prove a great support to your army, picking off upgraded Pictish Warriors in their favored terrain

Cultural Players: The Celts will have lots of musicians but otherwise not a lot going for them. Deny them wonders like Broadway and they likely won't really be able to catch up

Scientific Players: The Celts are either going to be getting science through rapid expansion(Epona) trade(Nuada) or growth(Ogma). Counter accordingly based on what pantheon they have, as that will be the bulk of their scientific bonuses.

Diplomatic Players: Embargoing the Celts will likely work well, as they either have a poor economy, or have Nuada which relies on trade. Otherwise, counter them based on whatever victory route they seem to be aiming for.

Other Guides

Meta Guides

These guide cover every civ in the game, and can be used as a quick reference

• Civ Summaries

Civ Specific Guides: Alphabetized

• America (Domination/Science/Culture)
  
• Arabia (Culture/Science)
  
• Assyria (Science/Domination)
  
• Austria (Diplomacy/Culture)
  
• The Aztecs (Domination/Science)
  
• Babylon (Science)
  
• Brazil (Culture)
  
• Byzantium (All)
  
• Carthage (Domination/Diplomacy)
  
• China (Domination/Culture)
  
• Denmark (Domination)
  
• Egypt (Culture)
  
• England (Domination/Diplomacy)
  
• Ethiopia (Science)
  
• France (Domination/Culture)
  
• Germany (Diplomacy/Science)
  
• Greece (Domination/Diplomacy/Culture)
  
• The Huns (Domination)
  
• The Inca (Science/Domination)
  
• India (Science/Culture)
  
• Indonesia (Domination/Culture/Science)
  
• The Iroquois (Domination)
  
• Japan (Domination/Culture)
  
• Korea (Science/Domination)
  
• The Maya (Science/Domination)
  
• Mongolia (Domination)
  
• Morocco (Culture/Diplomacy)
  
• The Netherlands (Diplomacy/Domination)
  
• The Ottomans (Domination/Science)
  
• Persia(Domination/Culture)
  
• Poland (Domination)
  
• Polynesia (Culture)
  
• Portugal (Science/Diplomacy)
  
• Rome (Domination/Science)
  
• Russia (Science/Domination)
  
• The Shoshone (Domination/Science/Culture)
  
• Siam (Diplomacy/Science/Culture)
  
• Songhai (Domination)
  
• Spain (Domination/Culture)
  
• Sweden (Domination)
  
• Venice (Diplomacy/Culture/Domination)
  
• The Zulus (Domination)