Zigzagzigal's Guides - Aztecs (Vanilla)

The Aztecs can go to war from the very earliest turns and can manage a game of near-constant warfare. Here, I detail Aztec strategies and counter-strategies.

Legacy Guide

If you have the Rise and Fall expansion, click here for the updated guide.

This guide is no longer updated, but will remain for the sake of those without the Rise and Fall expansion.

Introduction

Note: This guide only covers content released prior to the Rise and Fall expansion. Content from any DLC pack released between the base game and Rise and Fall is marked as such.

The Aztecs are an almighty fighting force. Don't delay and start an early war - the vast number of Builders you acquire can be put to good use building up the districts of the growing Aztec Empire, as well as linking up luxuries for amenity and attack bonuses. Coupled with a unique building which also offers amenities, the Aztecs can push for prolonged wars where other civs would give up due to war weariness. Manage this, and you'll have a powerful empire consisting of large numbers of strong cities. Fail to keep up with advancements in warfare and see your empire collapse faster than it was built.

How to use this guide

This guide is divided into multiple sections explaining how best to use and play against this specific civ.

• The Outline details the mechanics of how the civilization's unique features work and what their start bias is (assuming they have one at all).
  
• The Victory Skew section describes to what extent the civ (and its individual leaders where applicable) are inclined towards particular victory routes.
  
• Multiple sections for Uniques explain in detail how to use each special bonus of the civilization.
  
• Administration describes some of the most synergistic governments, civic cards, pantheons, religious beliefs, wonders, city-states and Great People for the civ. Only the ones with the most synergy with the civ's uniques are mentioned - these should be given more consideration than they would be for other civs but are not necessarily the "best" choices when playing as the civ for a given victory route.
  
• Finally, the Counter-Strategies discusses how best to play against the civ, including a consideration of leader agendas if the civ is controlled by a computer.

Note that all costs (production, science, culture, gold, etc.) mentioned within the guide assume a game played on the normal speed settings. To modify these values for other game speeds:

• Online: Divide by 2
  
• Quick: Divide by 1.5
  
• Epic: Multiply by 1.5
  
• Marathon: Multiply by 3

Glossary

Terminology used in this guide and not in-game is explained here.

AoE (Area of Effect) - Describes bonuses or penalties that affect multiple tiles in a set radius. Positive examples include Factories and Stadiums (which by default offer production and happiness respectively to cities within a 6 tile radius unless they're within range of another building of the same type) and a negative example is nuclear weapons, which cause devastation over a wide radius.

Beelining - The strategy of obtaining a technology or civic quickly by only researching it and its prerequisites. Some deviation is allowed in the event that taking a technology or civic off the main track provides some kind of advantage that makes up for that deviation (either a source of extra science/culture or access to something necessary for a eureka or inspiration boost.

CA (Civ Ability) - The unique ability of a civilization, shared by all its leaders. Unlike unique units, buildings, districts and improvements, civ abilites do not have to be built.

Civic cards - Another name for policy cards; you fill up your government with these for additional bonuses and can switch them for free every time you unlock a civic.

Compact empires - Civs with cities close together. This is useful if you want to make use of districts that gain adjacency bonuses from other districts, maximise the number of copies of the same district in the same area, or to maximise the potential of area-of-effect bonuses later in the game.

Dispersed empires - Civs with cities that are spread out. This is useful if you want to ensure cities have plenty of room for both districts and tile improvements. Civs with unique tile improvements generally favour a more dispersed empire in order to make use of them, as do civs focused on wonder construction.

GWAM - Collective name for Great Writers, Artists and Musicians. All of them can produce Great Works that offer tourism and culture, making them important to anyone seeking a cultural victory.

LA (Leader Ability) - The unique ability of a specific leader, which like civ abilities do not have to be built. Usually but not always, they tend to be more specific in scope than civ abilities. Some leader abilities come with an associated unique unit on top of the standard one every civ has.

Start bias - The kind of terrain, terrain feature or resource a civilization is more likely to start near. This is typically used for civilizations that have early bonuses dependent on a particular terrain type. There are five tiers of start bias; civs with a tier 1 start bias are placed before civs of tier 2 and so on, increasing their odds of receiving a favourable starting location.

Complete information on start biases within the game can be found in the Civilizations.xml file (find the Civ 6 folder in Steam's program files, then go through the Base, Assets, Gameplay and Data folders to find the file). If a civilization is not listed as having a start bias there, it does not have one, even if you feel like you keep spawning in the same terrain when playing as that civ.

Tall empires - Empires that emphasise city development over expansion, usually resulting in fewer, but bigger, cities.

Uniques - Collective name for civ abilities, leader abilities, unique units, unique buildings, unique districts and unique improvements.

UA (Unique Ability) - A collective name for leader abilities and civ abilities.

UB (Unique Building) - A special building which may only be constructed in the cities of a single civilization, which replaces a normal building and offers a special advantage on top.

UD (Unique District) - A special district which may only be constructed in the cities of a single civilization, which replaces a normal district and offers some unique advantages on top. In some cases, there may be minor disadvantages as well, but these are always outweighed by the positive features. All unique districts cost half as much to construct relative to the regular districts they replace.

UI (Unique Improvement) - A special improvement that can only be built by the Builders of a single civilization. Unlike unique buildings or districts, these do not replace a regular improvement. Some require a technology to unlock, and many have their yields improved with later technologies. "UI" always refers to unique improvements in my guides and not to "user interface" or "unique infrastructure".

UU (Unique Unit) - A special unit that may only be built by a single civilization, and in some cases only when that civilization is led by a specific leader. These usually replace an existing unit and offer extra advantages (and occasionally minor disadvantages as well in exchange for bigger advantages).

Wide empires - Empires that emphasise expansion over city development, usually resulting in more, but smaller, cities.

Outline

Start Bias

The Aztecs have no start bias.

Civilization Ability: Legend of the Five Suns

• Builders can use a charge to contribute 20% of the production cost of a district.
  
  • Modifiers to general production and district production do increase the contribution beyond 20%.
    
  • You cannot add a charge to a district that is not currently being worked on.
    
  • Builders cannot be used to help repair pillaged districts.
    
  • If you contribute more production via a charge than is needed to complete the district, the excess is carried over to the next thing you build.

Montezuma's Leader Ability: Gifts for the Tlatoani

• Every individual type of improved luxury resource within Aztec lands provides +1 amenity to six cities rather than the usual four
  
• Every individual type of improved luxury resource within Aztec lands provides a stacking +1 strength bonus to all military (including land, sea and air) and religious units when attacking.
  
  • This includes special luxuries offered by Great Merchants (Cosmetics from Helena Rubinstein, Jeans from Levi Strauss, Perfume from Estee Lauder and Toys from John Spilsbury)
    
  • Luxury resources from other sources (including trading, from city-states under suzerainity and the bonuses of Buenos Aires and Zanzibar) do not work for this purpose.

Unique Unit: Eagle Warrior

An ancient-era melee infantry unit which replaces the Warrior

Research	Obsoletion	Upgrades from	Upgrades to	Cost	Maintenance	Resource needed
None	Iron Working ** Technology Classical era	None	Swordsman (45 )	65 or 260 or 130 *	None	None

*Purchasing units with faith requires the Theocracy government, which in turn requires the renaissance-era Reformed Church civic. This number does not take into account Theocracy's 15% discount on faith purchases.

**If you have no access to iron, you may continue to build Eagle Warriors even beyond researching Iron Working.

Strength	Ranged Strength	Moves	Range	Sight	Negative Attributes	Positive Attributes
28	N/A	2	N/A	2	None	+10 vs. anti-mounted units Can turn defeated non-Barbarian land military units into Builders

Negative changes

• Costs 65 production, 260 gold or 130 faith, up from 40, 160 and 80 respectively (+62.5%)

Positive changes

• 28 strength, up from 20
  
• Can turn defeated non-Barbarian land military units into Builders with 3 charges
  
  • The chance of this occuring scales based on the strength difference between the Eagle Warrior and the unit it defeats. Scouts for example have a very high chance of being turned into Builders when defeated.
    
  • If you control the Pyramids wonder, Builders acquired this way will start with +1 charge.
    
  • The Serfdom and Public Works policy cards will not affect the number of charges captured Builders start with.
• Costs 45 gold to upgrade to a Swordsman, down from 80 (-44%)

Unique Building: Tlachtli

A classical-era Entertainment Complex building which replaces the Arena

Research	Prerequisites	Required to build	Cost	Maintenance	Pillage yield
Games and Recreation Civic Classical era	Entertainment Complex	Zoo Stadium	135 or 270	1	Restores pillager to full health

Fixed yields	Other yields	Citizen slots	Great Person points	Miscellanious effects
1 2	None	None	1	None

Positive changes

• Costs 135 production or 270 gold, down from 150 and 300 respectively (-10%)
  
• +2 faith
  
• +1 Great General Point

Victory Skew

In this section, the civ is graded based on how much it leans towards a specific victory type - not how powerful it is. Any score of 3 or above means the civ or leader has some kind of advantage to the victory route above a hypothetical civ with no unique features. A score of less than 2 means some kind of aspect of the civ actively discourages a particular victory route. All values are subjective and may be edited in future.

Leader	Culture	Domination	Religion	Science
Montezuma	4/10 (Acceptable)	10/10 (Ideal)	7/10 (Good)	6/10 (Decent)

Culture isn't really a particularly effective path to take as the Aztecs. Amenities stretching to six cities rather than four means you can support more cities and hence have more Theatre Squares, Great Work slots and GWAM point generation, but being able to handle more cities doesn't give the cultural victory an edge over other victory paths. The one distinct advantage the Aztecs have is that the faith bonus from Tlachtli can be used to buy Naturalists with.

Domination is clearly the best option for the Aztecs. Eagle Warriors are one of the ancient era's strongest units and every luxury you own will build that advantage up even further. Amenity bonuses help to deal with war weariness while using Builder charges to develop districts saves production that can be used to build up more units.

Religion is a possible backup route for the Aztecs. Tlachtli offer some faith which gives the Aztecs a minor edge, but more importantly the more luxuries you have, the stronger your religious units will be in theological warfare. The major downside to this strategy is that pushing for an early religion comes at the cost of some early warfare.

Science victories are an okay backup strategy but shouldn't be the primary goal for victory. Being able to get Spaceports built in just five turns in any city is nice, and some district-based eurekas are easy to achieve, but the Aztecs don't particularly excel in raw science output the way many more focused civs do.

Unique Unit: Eagle Warrior

Breaking from the usual structure of civ guides, I'm covering the UU first. Why? Because of the way it feeds into the unique abilities, and also because you have one from the very start of the game.

Eagle Warriors have 28 strength rather than the normal 20. That gives them an advantage over nearly any other ancient-era unit. It also has a curious side-effect; because the strength of your cities is scaled to your strongest unit, your cities will initially defend better than those of any other civs. Nice if you suddenly get swarmed by Barbarians at this early stage.

Once you have four luxuries (or in other words, every type of luxury on one continent) and the Oligarchy government, Eagle Warriors can even go toe-to-toe with Swordsmen (though they won't defend as effectively) - keeping them relevant for quite some time. They have no resource requirement and no maintenance, and all you need is the Agoge millitary civic card (from the Craftsmanship civic) to build them considerably faster.


+8 strength is a significant bonus, and it's still good even on higher difficulties where all AI units get a strength boost.

It's possible to avoid constructing Builders for quite some time as the Aztecs - just build a few Eagle Warriors instead and start a war (assuming there's a close enough target). Declaring war on a civ or city-state in the ancient era has no warmonger penalties, so do so! Defeating units with low strength relative to Eagle Warriors (such as Scouts or Slingers) makes it very likely you'll convert them into Builders, but you don't need to stop there.

A fast attack can take out a civ before they've got much in the way of proper defences, which means a city or two extra for yourself as well as one step closer to domination victory. Grabbing Archery early to allow you to build Archers can be useful to help support your Eagle Warriors. Then, after filling in all necessary Builder technologies and Writing (for Campus districts), working towards Construction is a good idea; aside from offering Siege Towers (which will make it much easier for your Eagle Warriors to deal with walled cities), it's also required for the inspiration boost for Games and Recreation (which in turn unlocks the Tlachtli UB).

One huge advantage the Aztecs have is that long, drawn-out wars early in the game don't hurt them the same way it does to other civs. Montezuma's amenity bonus helps deal with war weariness (once you have at least five cities) and constructing the Aztec UB will also provide amenities. Being able to capture Builders and put them to work rushing districts (thanks to the Aztec civ ability) saves production that can then be used to replace lost units, helping the Aztecs weather a war of attrition without setting back development much.


The problem with capturing Builders in conquest is you'll end up with them some distance away from your homelands, where you'll want to send most of them. Rather than dedicating units to escort them, send them back along the same route new Eagle Warriors go from your homelands to the battlefield. That way, Builders won't be far from a unit that can protect them if need be, but you don't have to divert Eagle Warriors away from combat unecessarily.

Eagle Warriors can help you defeat another civ early in the game while granting you massive numbers of Builders, but once you face medieval-era units or classical-era UUs, you'll need to move on to something stronger. If you have iron, grab Iron Working and upgrade your Eagle Warriors to Swordsmen. If not, hold off on war for now until you either have it or access to Gunpowder. Eagle Warriors upgraded to Swordsmen won't be able to capture Builders any more, but by this point you'll have more than you know what to do with anyway.

Civ Ability: Legend of the Five Suns

So, you've gone and captured a whole load of Builders with your Eagle Warriors. You could just improve every tile in sight of all your cities, but it's often better just to improve the tiles you need to, and then use the remaining Builders to rush districts with. Especially for less-productive cities, the ability to rush districts with Builders saves a substantial amount of time helping your empire to be very powerful very early.

Builders always offer 20% of the production of a district, no matter how cheap or expensive they are. This means no matter the city, you can always get a district built in 5 turns or less assuming you have enough Builders. This is especially powerful when you consider you can't buy districts with gold or faith unlike most units and buildings. To get a new city off the ground quickly, rushing a Commercial Hub and then buying a Trader for use in internal trade for food and production is a possibility, as is rushing an Industrial Zone for pure production.

To maximise the speed in which you construct districts, there's two tricks you can use. Firstly, by using all but one charge of Builders elsewhere, you can use multiple one-charge Builders on the same district in the same turn. Secondly, if you set a city to build a district, you can set it to build something else between turns. When your turn starts, set the city to build that district again, use a Builder to rush production and set it back to whatever else you were building before you press the "end turn" button. This helps to minimise wasted production, although as district costs can rise in the middle of construction and you'll only be contributing production via Builders, the district may take an extra turn to construct.


I settled a brand new city on a new continent to give myself a foothold there. I controlled the Pyramids and had the Public Works civic card, so the Builder shown started with six charges. After using one to get the wheat farm built, I used the rest to get an Industrial Zone in five turns instead of 160. Although that industrial zone didn't offer any adjacency bonuses, with envoys in industrial city-states and shortly afterwards the gold to buy a Workshop with, I could rapidly boost its production.

Once Eagle Warriors are obsolete, you'll need to construct Builders of your own. The first Builder you construct costs 50 production, and that increases by 4 for every one you build. The following table shows the break-even point where using Builder charges to rush a district costs the same as building it directly, expressed in terms of the Builder cost as a percentage of the District cost. For example, if you have no bonuses to Builder charges or production, a builder needs to cost less than 60% of the cost of a district to be worth using to rush them.

Number of charges	No production boost	30% production boost
3	60%	78%
4	80%	104%
5	100%	130%
6	120%	156%

You can gain +1 Builder charge from the Pyramids wonder, and +2 from the Serfdom or Public Works civic cards. The Ilkum and Public Works civic cards offer a 30% production bonus when constructing Builders.

The preceding table does not take into account the fact you can essentially transfer production from one city to another by building a Builder in the former and rushing production in the latter, nor that you can purchase Builders unlike districts. Still, it's useful to know that Builders need to get very expensive before they stop being worth using to rush districts with.


Yes, you can rush Spaceports, saving masses of production if you want to go down the scientific victory route.

Ultimately, the main advantage of this ability is to speed up development in smaller cities, bringing them up to par with the rest of your empire. Combined with amenity bonuses, the Aztecs can support a very strong empire.

Montezuma's Leader Ability: Gifts for the Tlatoani (Part 1/3)

Look at that glorious +4 attack bonus. And that's just from the luxuries on my starting continent!

Montezuma's leader ability is a complex one which is simple enough to get the basic idea of, but comes with a lot of depth. In simple terms, every unique luxury you have will make more amenities assuming you have at least five cities, and will make your units better at attacking. More amenities will help you handle a large empire and the negative effects to amenities produced by war weariness. Stronger units helps you to conquer faster, or spread religion more effectively.

Acquiring luxuries

Your capital will always start near a luxury, so sending one of the Builders you captured back home and improving a resource will be simple enough. Beyond that point, you'll need to actively seek out luxuries. Build a couple of Settlers fairly early on in among your Eagle Warrior spam so you can secure other nearby luxuries (and also because having more cities means greater Eagle Warrior spam potential).

Each continent in your game can have up to 4 unique luxuries, and almost always continents have the full four. A notable exception is found with Huge maps, as they exhaust all the possible luxuries in the game, so are capped at 24 luxuries rather than the 26 you may expect. Different continents cannot have the same types of luxuries as each other. Furthermore, sea luxuries do not add to this limit, adding an extra 2 luxuries for every map type. The following table shows what all that can mean:

Map size	Number of continents	Maximum number of luxuries	Potential amenities for other civs	Potential amenities for Aztecs	Maximum Aztec attack bonus
Duel	1	6	24	36	6
Tiny	2	10	40	60	10
Small	3	14	56	84	14
Standard	4	18	72	108	18
Large	5	22	88	132	22
Huge	6	24	96	144	24

Note: For a normal civ to get the maximum amount of amenities, there needs to be four different luxuries on every continent and they need at least four cities. The Aztecs need at least six cities for the maximum bonus. This table only includes luxuries that can be worked on terrain, not special luxuries unlocked by city-states and Great People.

More unique luxuries in larger maps helps warmongering civs to support larger empires, as is necessary when there's more civs you'll need to beat. A curious side-effect of this for the Aztecs, however, is that the bigger the map size, the stronger Montezuma's combat gets. This makes the Aztecs unusual among warmongering (and religious) civs, as usually bigger maps make things harder by adding more opponents, forcing the player to be faster.

Unless you're on a Pangaea map, Inland Sea or other similar types where the world consists of one main landmass, getting Cartography (or the Great Admiral Leif Erikson) reasonably early will be a good idea. Settling colonies overseas will give you useful footholds into continents ready for future expansion, while also securing you the luxuries you need. Sending a small fleet of Builders with your Settler can help rapidly develop the new colony so it can start contributing to your military machine.

On top of these luxuries are the four special ones unlocked from specific Great Merchants. These include Cosmetics from Helena Rubinstein, Jeans from Levi Strauss, Perfume from Estee Lauder and Toys from John Spilsbury. They aren't included in the table because it's harder to consistently get hold of those Great People, but they can make an already-strong bonus even more powerful. Saving up the faith you generate from Tlachtli to acquire these via patronage isn't a bad idea.

Extra Luxury Amenity Provision

Luxuries usually provide +1 amenity to the four cities that need it most. Cities need 1 more amenity to remain content for every two population points starting with the fourth one (so size 3 cities or lower do not require amenities). Long wars will cause cities to temporarily lose amenities via the war weariness mechanic. This can make keeping cities content quite a challenge for warmongering civs.

Enter the Aztecs. By having amenities provide bonuses to six cities instead of four, this essentially makes luxuries 50% more effective at keeping your empire content - assuming discontent isn't concentrated in a very small number of cities (meaning the bonus spreading to more cities is not very helpful). Still, if you find yourself in that situation, you can always build a Tlachtli in those cities. Even during prolonged wars, Aztecs rarely find themselves in a bad deficit of amenities.

Montezuma's Unique Ability: Gifts for the Tlatoani (Part 2/3)

Per-Luxury Attack Bonus

This is what makes the Aztecs a consistently powerful warmongering civ and not just in the early-game. Every luxury you own adds +1 attack to every unit you have. As the game goes on and you can reach more continents, the potential of this bonus gets bigger and bigger - though keep in mind it only works when attacking. In defence, your units (other than Eagle Warriors) are no stronger than those of other civs.

But that's not all. Strength advantages are exponential in nature; the difference between a +10 strength advantage and +6 has a bigger impact on damage output than the difference between a +6 and a +2 bonus, for example.

You can find more information on the exact formula determining how strength difference affects damage in combat and one person's quest to work it out here[forums.civfanatics.com]. For those who don't want to plug in values to an exponential function, I've done it for you. Here's a table of combat differences and what it means in combat. Note that values for damage can vary by 25% above or below the indicated value so having a minor strength advantage is no guarantee you'll deal more damage than you receive in a melee attack.

Strength advantage	Average damage dealt	Average damage received	Damage dealt multiplier	Damage received multiplier
0	30	30	1.00	1.00
1	31	29	1.04	0.96
2	33	28	1.08	0.92
3	34	27	1.13	0.89
4	35	26	1.17	0.85
5	37	25	1.22	0.82
6	38	24	1.27	0.79
7	40	23	1.32	0.75
8	41	22	1.38	0.73
9	43	21	1.44	0.70
10	45	20	1.49	0.67
11	47	19	1.56	0.64
12	49	19	1.62	0.62
13	51	18	1.69	0.59
14	53	17	1.76	0.57
15	55	16	1.83	0.55
16	57	16	1.90	0.53
17	59	15	1.98	0.51
18	62	15	2.06	0.49
19	64	14	2.15	0.47
20	67	13	2.23	0.45
21	70	13	2.33	0.43
22	73	12	2.42	0.41
23	76	12	2.52	0.40
23	76	12	2.52	0.40
24	79	11	2.62	0.38
25	82	11	2.73	0.37
26	85	11	2.84	0.35
27	89	10	2.96	0.34
28	92	10	3.08	0.32
29	96	9	3.21	0.31
30	100	9	3.34	0.30

Note: Useful points of reference are +4 (Oligarchy government), +8 (Eagle Warriors relative to regular Warriors), +10 (the bonus of a corps relative to a regular unit of the same kind) and +17 (the bonus of an army relative to a regular unit of the same kind)

A strength advantage of 30 or more is typically a one-hit kill. A strength advantage of 37 or more guarantees a one-hit kill.

Combining this with the table of map sizes, and you can work out the maximum possible effect of Montezuma's leader ability. The following list assumes no other advantages to attack strength, and does not include the four Great Merchant luxuries.

• Duel: +27% damage dealt and -21% damage received
  
• Tiny: +49% damage dealt and -33% damage received
  
• Small: +75% damage dealt and -43% damage received
  
• Standard: +105% damage dealt and -51% damage received
  
• Large: +141% damage dealt and -58% damage received
  
• Huge: +163% damage dealt and -63% damage received

This is in an ideal situation, but it shows you just how powerful Montezuma can be - though remember this only works when attacking!

To make the most out of this bonus, once you've settled plenty of luxury colonies throughout the word, emphasis science output so you can add the strength advantage of being at least an era ahead on top of the luxury bonus. You'll also want the Nationalism and Mobilisation civics along with a good amount of production and gold so you can build new units, upgrade old ones and build plenty of Armies. Against lone units, an Aztec army that's an era ahead and boosted by luxuries can pretty easily get a +30 strength advantage; enough for a 1-hit kill.

Alternatively, the luxury bonus can help make up for being an era behind, or extend the lifespan of otherwise obsolete units. Eagle Warriors notably can be kept relevant through the classical era thanks to this, but it also can greatly help Field Cannons (which have a range of 2 but upgrade into Machine Guns, which only have 1 range), among many others.


No cash to upgrade? No problem!

Montezuma's Unique Ability: Gifts for the Tlatoani (Part 3/3)

Religious Units

Proof that the strength bonus applies to religious units! (Even if these two can't actually fight each other.)

For a change of pace as the Aztecs, you can also consider using the attack bonus in theological combat, though the need to found a religion to make the most of that bonus can be at odds with the Aztecs' strengths at early warfare.

Let's start with the basic strength of religious units. Apostles and Inquisitors in their home territory have 110 religious strength. Missionaries have 100, Gurus have 90 and Inquisitors outside their home territory only have 70.

Now, some general bonuses. The Theocracy government adds +5 strength to all religious units, as does the Religious Orders economic policy card. Both are available at the renaissance-era Reformed Church civic. Apostles with the Debater promotion also get a +20 strength boost.

Like regular units, religious units lose one strength for every 10 health they lose, rounded up (a unit at 100 health has no penalty, from 90-99 has a -1 strength penalty, and so on).

Finally, it's time to add on the Aztec strength bonus. Say you secured ten luxuries for a +10 attack boost, and have both Theocracy and Religious Orders. Your Apostles will be frequently one-hitting enemy Missionaries without those bonuses. Apostles with the Debater promotion will be so hard to kill you should be able to retreat them to your own Holy Sites to heal before that becomes a problem.

This all sounds great, but remember that the Aztecs have only a couple of small bonuses to faith generation (the Tlachtli UB and being able to rush Holy Sites) and theological combat does depend on the actions of the other civ. Smart religious civs may attempt to play around your bonuses in theological combat by relying on their superior faith output, spread-religion charges, retreating units that stray too close to yours, or attacking first to weaken your units before you can use your own attack bonus.

Summary

• Always be on the look out for new sources of unique luxuries on the terrain or from Great Merchants.
  
• Be willing to settle overseas to secure as much variety as possible.
  
• This ability is mainly useful for warfare, but has some applications in the religious game as well.
  
• Try to attack as much as possible, and avoid situations where units need to mostly defend.

Unique Building: Tlachtli

The Tlachtli at first glance doesn't appear to fit with the other Aztec uniques very well. After all, building an Entertainment Complex seems a waste when you already get an amenities boost from Montezuma's leader ability while the faith bonus doesn't appear to fit well for a civ focused on early warfare rather than religion. In reality, it's not that bad. While it's not the strongest UB out there, after the powerful other Aztec uniques, it's only fair.

First things first, actually getting to the building. It unlocks at Games and Recreation, but you should head to Political Philosophy first to pick up the Oligarchy government and its very helpful +4 combat strength for Eagle Warriors. While you're doing that, you can work towards the Construction technology; it offers both the boost to Games and Recreation and the ability to build Siege Towers.

Once you have the civic, you can use some Builders to rush a couple of Entertainment Complexes. You won't need them in every city; it's a good idea to just have them in cities likely to grow very large. This is partially because they'll be able to build more districts of other kinds, and partially because they'll eventually have the greatest need for amenities. Yes, even despite Montezuma's leader ability, the Aztecs can still struggle with war weariness. And even if you don't have that as a problem, having excess amenities means you can get bonuses to all kinds of yield.

The Great General point on offer from Tlachtli is the benefit that's more obvious in purpose. If you have a few Barracks and Tlachtlis, you can generate more Great General Points than most civs, helping you to always have a relevant Great General available. No Great General boosts Eagle Warriors, but you should unlock at least a couple later in the game. Great Generals are an uncommon sight on the battlefield, so having one will generally mean a +5 strength advantage over the other side. Add Oligarchy and luxury bonuses on top, and the battle becomes rather one-sided.

The tricky part of the UB to make use of is the faith bonus. It may be tempting to go for a religion, but getting both Holy Sites and Entertainment Complexes early means delaying Campuses substantially. When you're playing a very war-focused civ, falling behind on science isn't really a good idea. Instead, a better use of the faith is for the patronage of Great People. Specifically, four Great People, all of whom are merchants:

• John Spilsbury (Industrial era) - Provides Toys
  
• Helena Rubenstein (Atomic era) - Provides Cosmetics
  
• Levi Strauss (Atomic era) - Provides Jeans
  
• Estée Lauder (Information era) - Provides Perfume

Unlike special luxuries from Buenos Aires and Zanzibar, all of these unique luxuries will add strength to your military units, making it worthwhile to grab as many of these Great People as possible!

Ultimately, the Tlachtli isn't an amazing UB but can be helpful in its role of supporting Montezuma's leader ability. Getting more amenities is probably more useful than the unique advantages of the building, so just build it where you'd have Entertainment Complexes anyway.

Administration - Government and Religion

The administration section covers the governments, policy cards, pantheons, religions, wonders, city-states and Great People which have particularly good synergy with Aztec uniques. Be aware that these are not necessarily the best choices, but rather options that you should consider more than usual if playing as the Aztecs relative to other Civs.

Governments

Classical Era Governments

The obvious choice is Oligarchy for its +4 strength bonus to melee units. You just need three luxuries and Oligarchy to make Jaguar Warriors as strong as Swordsmen for other civs not using Oligarchy.

Medieval/Renaissance Era Governments

All three medieval/renaissance governments have their uses for the Aztecs.

Monarchy could be useful for helping your housing limit be more reflective of how many amenities you have, allowing your cities grow to a great size, but the three military policy slots on offer are generally too many for this point in the game.

If Tlachtlis and captured Holy Sites together make a strong faith output, or you want to build on your strengths in theological combat, consider Theocracy. It has a good balance of policy card slots and lets you purchase units with faith.

Finally, Merchant Republic might be weak on direct military bonuses, but the extra trade routes means more gold, or food and production, which is a great help no matter your playstyle. It's a pretty safe choice if you're unsure which government to pick.

Modern Era Governments

Typically, you'll want to go with Fascism. The +4 attack bonus is a nice advantage in late-game warfare, and stacked with the high luxury attack bonus you'll have by this point in the game, your damage output will be powerful. A bonus to unit production is welcome as well.

Policy Cards

Ancient Era

Agoge (Military, requires Craftsmanship) - Eagle Warriors are pretty expensive to build at the start of the game, but with this policy you'll be churning them (and Archers) out rapidly.

Ilkum (Economic, requires Craftsmanship) - Although in the early stages of the game you should be capturing Builders via Eagle Warriors rather than constructing them, this policy is still useful in case you somehow run out and potential nearby enemies are too strong for your Eagle Warriors to take on.

Strategos (Wildcard, requires Military Tradition) - +2 Great General points per turn. Handy if you're serious about getting a Great General early on.

Medieval Era

Serfdom (Economic, requires Feudalism) - Adds 2 extra charges to Builders; enough to build a district with. Very useful if you want to develop new cities quickly. Note that it won't boost the charges on Builders you capture via Eagle Warriors, but by this point you should be upgrading your Eagle Warriors anyway.

Renaissance Era

(Religious) Religious Orders (Economic, requires Reformed Church) - Gives all religious units +5 strength. On very large maps and in conjunction with the Theocracy government, this gives you a humongous advantage in theological combat.

Industrial Era

Military Organization (Wildcard, requires Scorched Earth) - +4 Great General points per turn.

Public Works (Economic, requires Civil Engineering) - Makes it much more efficient to construct Builders, saving you more production when you use them to rush districts with.

Modern Era

Laissez-Faire (Wildcard, requires Capitalism) - This is around the time in the game where the Great Merchants offering unique luxuries arrive. Grabbing this policy helps you to get more, and hence a bigger attack/amenities bonus.

Police State (Diplomatic, requires Ideology) - If you're sick of having to deal with enemy Spies stealing your technologies and sabotaging your factories, this policy can help greatly. You will lose amenities for this, but the Aztecs can handle that better than most civs. Cryptography at Cold War has the same positive effect but no downside, so use that instead (or on top) as soon as you can.

Atomic Era

Sports Media (Economic, requires Professional Sports) - Stadiums get +1 amenity from this policy. Considering your UB is on the way to Stadiums, you might be able to get more out of this policy than many other civs can.

Pantheons

City Patron Goddess - This bonus applies even for rushing districts with Builders, letting you get a city's first district built with four Builder charges instead of five.

God of the Forge - Helps you to build Eagle Warriors and Archers faster.

Divine Spark - Exploit the Aztec ability to get districts up quickly with a pantheon that offers you additional Great Person Points from three of them.

Religious Beliefs

You can have one founder, one follower, one enhancer and one worship belief.

Crusade (Enhancer) - Assuming you've managed to found a religion, you probably have a good enough faith output to make this belief work. Convert a few border cities, declare war and enjoy a +10 strength bonus on top of all the others you already have.

(Religious) Missionary Zeal (Enhancer) - Playing the religious game? The Aztecs have unrivalled potential for theological combat attack strength, but being able to catch up to enemy religious units is another matter. Taking this belief ends that problem.

Papal Primacy (Founder) - Mostly useful if there's some industrial city-states you have envoys present at. New cities can use Builders to rush an Industrial Zone, and then enjoy the production bonuses from industrial city-states (boosted by this belief) to develop other things faster.

Warrior Monks (Follower) - Put that Tlachtli faith to good use with a special military unit which can get incredibly strong with promotions - especially with Montezuma's leader ability.

Administration - Wonders, City-States and Great People

Wonders

Oracle (Ancient era, Mysticism civic) - The reduced faith cost to acquire Great People via patronage helps stretch your Tlachtli faith further. To maximise the Great Person Points bonus, don't build an Entertainment Complex in the city as it lacks an associated Great Person.

Pyramids (Ancient era, Masonry technology) - Unlike the Serfdom civic card, this will boost the number of charges Builders obtained via Eagle Warriors have. And even beyond the point at which Eagle Warriors obsolete, this wonder will still be handy for maximising the district-construction potential of Builders. The bonus works if you capture the wonder (you don't even have to build it), so there's no need to distract yourself from spamming Eagle Warriors and Archers early in the game.

Colosseum (Classical era, Games and Recreation civic) - Although the Aztecs are rarely short of amenities, the Colosseum can help ensure you have a surplus and have access to the nice yield bonuses on offer as a result. More to the point, you need Games and Recreation for the Aztec UB, giving you an incentive to research the civic early, giving you a head start on the wonder. By getting this wonder yourself it denies anyone else it, meaning your enemies will have to suffer harsh war weariness while you still have a good buffer against it.

(Religious) Jebel Barkal (Classical era, Iron Working technology) - The bonuses to amenities offered by Montezuma's leader ability allow you to support more cities than most civs, and this wonder can help make up for the relative lack of faith bonuses the Aztecs have. Requires the Nubia civilization pack.

(Religious) Mahabodhi Temple (Classical era, Theology civic) - Want to get started with theological combat sooner? The free Apostles from this wonder should help.

Terracotta Army (Classical era, Construction technology) - You'll have spammed a lot of Eagle Warriors by this point so you'll get an awful lot of free promotions. The bonus Great General point is nice as well.

Angkor Wat (Medieval era, Medieval Faires civic) - The Aztecs' early conquest potential and high amount of amenities means not only do they have a large number of cities to benefit from this wonder, but they can also support the bump up in population. This makes Angkor Wat potentially extremely powerful! Requires the Khmer and Indonesia civilization pack.

City-States

Note: The special luxuries offered by Buenos Aires and Zanzibar do not interact with Montezuma's leader ability.

Kabul (Militaristic) - If you can become suzerain early, your Jaguar Armies will be even harder to stop thanks to their fast promotion gain. Aside from the bonuses of the promotions themselves, more frequent promotions means more frequent healing from applying them.

Stockholm (Scientific) - Great in conjunction with the Aztec ability to get districts up quickly.

Toronto (Industrial) - A wider area of effect for Zoos and Stadiums means you don't need to build as many to enjoy their full bonuses, saving production you can use on other things. This bonus also works on Factories and Power Plants, but you might want to build some anyway for the Engineer citizen slots and Great Engineer points.

Yerevan (Religious) - For religious Aztec players, Yerevan gives you access to virtually invincible Apostles by letting you constantly take the Debater promotion.

Great People

Remember that these are only the ones that have particular synergy with Aztec uniques, not necessarily the most effective options. Obviously, all Great Generals and Admirals can be useful for a domination victory, but it would be redundant to list them all.

Medieval Era

Bi Sheng (Great Engineer) - 1 extra district capacity in a city means you don't have to feel guilty about building an Entertainment Complex and a Tlachtli in a city which doesn't have a scarcity of amenities.

El Cid (Great General) - If you think you have a shot at getting El Cid, keep at least one Eagle Warrior around (considering they don't cost any maintenance that won't be a problem). An Eagle Warrior corps has 38 strength, which stacked with Montezuma's luxury attack bonuses, will keep the unit relevant through the medieval era. Backed by Crossbowmen and other such units, you can carry on going to war and making use of the ability to turn defeated enemies into Builders. Remember, however, that retiring El Cid means losing his area-of-effect strength bonus, so make sure you have another Great General ready if you want to do that.

Leif Erikson (Great Admiral) - Allows you to cross oceans an era early, which helps you reach new continents and secure new luxuries.

Industrial Era

Ada Lovelace (Great Engineer) - Another opportunity to increase a city's district limit by 1.

John Spilsbury (Great Merchant) - The first of the four Great Merchants that offer special luxuries. Every one you can get is a +1 attack bonus to all your units, so do what you can to get hold of as many of them as possible!

Joseph Paxton (Great Engineer) - By making both the Zoo and Stadium in one city extra-strong and with a large radius, it means you can save production on having to build them in other cities.

Napoleon Bonaparte (Great General) - Unlike El Cid, you shouldn't really use Napoleon's bonus to enhance Eagle Warriors. Instead, use the +17 strength boost an army has in conjunction with other bonuses to create a behemoth. Remember, however, that retiring Napoleon means losing his area-of-effect strength bonus, so make sure you have another Great General ready if you want to do that.

Atomic Era

Helena Rubenstein (Great Merchant) - The second of the four unique luxury Great People.

Levi Strauss (Great Merchant) - The third of the four unique luxury Great People.

Information Era

Estée Lauder (Great Merchant) - The last of the four unique luxury Great People.

Counter-Strategies

The Aztecs can be a scary opponent to fight, but put together a sufficient defence and they'll be forced to pursue sub-optimum paths to victory.

Eagle Warrior

Eagle Warriors have 8 more strength than normal Warriors, and even more if you're playing in singleplayer on a difficulty above Prince. A +8 strength bonus makes Eagle Warriors deal 38% more damage while taking 27% less relative to an even Warrior vs. Warrior fight. That sounds frightening, but remember that Eagle Warriors are 63% more expensive than regular Warriors to build. If both you and the Aztecs spam Warriors and Eagle Warriors respectively, they won't necessarily have the upper hand as a result.

If an attack by the Aztecs doesn't happen immediately, grab Archery and build a few Archers. With 25 ranged strength and a lower production cost relative to Eagle Warriors, they're a great choice, but make sure you have some Warriors as well to prevent the Archers being squished in melee combat. Avoid using Spearmen anywhere near the Aztecs if at war; Eagle Warriors have a +13 strength advantage over them.

Now that you're prepared for war against the Aztecs, it's time to turn that threat into an opportunity. You see, Eagle Warriors can turn military units into Builders. The weaker the unit, the more likely it is to be converted into a Builder. Scouts are cheaper than Builders and have only 10 strength. Send some Scouts at the Eagle Warriors, and when they get defeated, capture them back. Builders obtained this way won't increase the cost of future Builders you construct or buy, so you can save a fair bit of production this way while also slightly damaging the invading Aztec forces.

Legend of the Five Suns

Aside from the obvious step of capturing Aztec Builders so they can't rush districts, there's two other ways you can limit the potential of the Aztec civ ability. One, you can obtain the Pyramids for yourself denying them the +1 Builder charge bonus, and two, you can send in fast units to pillage their districts. The Aztecs have to use production to repair districts like everyone else.

Montezuma - Gifts for the Tlatoani

This ability has two main shortcomings: the strength bonus only works for attacking, and that the Aztecs have to directly control luxuries to get the amenity/attack bonus, or else gain them via Great Merchants.

The first shortcoming can be exploited by simply attacking Aztec units before they can attack you. Units with a ranged attack are great for this purpose, and cavalry can be pretty effective as well.

The second shortcoming can be exploited by pillaging luxuries in Aztec territory, and ensuring the Aztecs don't get hold of the Great Merchants that offer special luxuries. Remember that every continent has its own unique set of luxuries (ignoring the two water-based ones), and cannot have more than four kinds.

Stuck competing against the Aztecs in the religious game? Try to rely on spread-religion charges and mobility rather than trying to compete in strength. If you do have to fight Aztec Apostles or Inquisitors, make sure you have a numbers advantage (it'll also help you use flanking and support bonuses), and attack the Aztec units before they attack you. The Aztecs aren't exceptionally strong at generating faith compared to most religious civs, so that should be manageable.

Montezuma - AI Agenda (Tlatoani)

Montezuma wants to acquire as many luxuries as possible, and dislikes civs that own luxuries he doesn't have. If you lack luxury resources he doesn't have, you'll get a relations bonus.

Pleasing Montezuma generally depends on which continent you're on. If you share a continent with him, your luxuries should generally overlap (he'll probably declare war on you anyway to make use of his Eagle Warriors, but the relations boost should discourage future wars). If you don't share a continent, he'll probably hate you for having luxuries he doesn't have. It's not an agenda you can easily play around; it's usually best to seek allies elsewhere.

Tlachtli

The Aztec UB is generally not much of a threat unless you're in a tight race for Great Generals. Again, a key weakness of the Aztecs is the fact they need to dedicate a lot of production to repair districts, so if you find yourself at war with them, go ahead. It'll also help lessen the amenity advantage the Aztecs tend to have.

Other Guides

If you like these guides and want to send a tip, you can click here![ko-fi.com]

Compilation Guides

• Civ summaries
  
• Civ-specific tricks, secrets and clarifications

Individual Civ Guides

• America (Cultural/Domination)
  
• Arabia (Religious/Scientific)
  
• Australia (Scientific)
  
• Aztecs (Domination)
  
• Brazil (All)
  
• China (Cultural/Scientific)
  
• Egypt (Cultural/Religious)
  
• England (Cultural/Domination)
  
• France (Cultural)
  
• Germany (Domination/Scientific)
  
• Greece (Cultural/Domination)
  
• India (Religious)
  
• Indonesia (Cultural/Domination/Religious)
  
• Japan (Domination)
  
• Khmer (Cultural/Religious)
  
• Kongo (Cultural)
  
• Macedon (Domination/Scientific)
  
• Norway (Domination)
  
• Nubia (Domination)
  
• Persia (Cultural/Domination)
  
• Poland (Cultural/Domination/Religious)
  
• Rome (Domination)
  
• Russia (Religious)
  
• Scythia (Domination/Religious)
  
• Spain (Domination/Religious/Scientific)
  
• Sumeria (Domination/Scientific)

[Zigzagzigal]

It's unclear, though it'd make sense for it to work on the same basis as Montezuma's leader ability.

[MeniliteZ]

Do traded luxuries count as the Aztecs owning them for Montezuma’s Agenda?

I traded Aztecs my first ever luxury (Sugar), then when I improved another Sugar I got a message from him that made it sound like I was going against his agenda. I did not have any other luxuries improved, but I suppose the 30 turns might have run out by then. (I’m slow at building builders.)

[Zigzagzigal]

I underrated the role of cheap districts in achieving certain eurekas at the time; I've adjusted the victory skew section accordingly.

[Casper]

I think the aztecs are an interesting civilization because if you have a strong start you can do practically every victory.

In the game I'm playing right now on prince I managed to capture sumeria's capital in 30 turns leaving them with just one remaining city and powerless for the rest of the game. I got a builder bonus with which i could improve some tiles and with the settlers i built i had 3 cities after 30 turns.

170 turns lated I'm at the second highest player score, 5 technologies ahead of everyone, best cultural civilization without trying so I am trying to achieve a scientific victory. I boosted that by adding religious advantages, campusses, industrial zones and just a lot of cities (9).

But as this guide says Montezuma isn't that great for scientific victories, what makes a civilization great for scientific victories?

[Zigzagzigal]

Great Merchant ones add strength, Zanzibar/Buenos Aires luxuries do not.

[Rowhan]

Do the Great Merchant luxuries and the Zanzibar/Buenos Aires bonuses provide 2 extra amenities?

[Zigzagzigal]

I finally got around to checking if the Aztec strength bonus works on religious units. Turns out, it does, and I've added a bunch of extra detail to the guide to accomodate that.

[Zigzagzigal]

Changes from the 20 October Autumn Patch:

- Warrior Monks are a new special military unit tied to a special follower belief. Use some excess Tlachtli faith and you could train quite a few.

[Yensil]

So I'm debating whether or not to conquer Palenque, or just farm it for workers early on (first city state I've discovered) then attack Kongo and keep Palenque for it's suzerainty bonus...I'm likely to have a fair number of campuses, so the growth bonus could be useful...

[kaeper]

I found Aztec surprisingly good for science. With an early warmonger rush to get a base of cities the district build speed gives an edge from start to finish.