Spanish Empire in Sid Meier's Civ IV - How to win in Civilization IV as the Spanish Empire - Ultimate Strategy Guide by John Sinitsky

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Introduction

Sid Meier’s Civilization was the first real turn-based strategy ever. The latest PC-oriented version is the “Civilization IV”, launched in October 2005.

Civ IV is very popular to this day. With the victory options and most the pre-game selections (choosing the map, the climate and sea level, game speed and world size, Difficulty Levels (A,B)) described in earlier articles, we are now reviewing the aspects of civilization choice which each player can play in the game. Each nation has it’s unique abilities that have to be utilized to win the game at high levels. This articles deals with Spain.

Spanish Empire Overview

Spain has the Conquistador as its unique unit (replacing the Knight). Conquistadors are immune to First Strikes. However, Conquistador has a considerable +50% vs melee units – making it more powerful against Maceman, and a serious threat to Pikeman (even though the latter has +100% with mounted units). In any case, to utilize Conquistadors you should discover Guilds as soon as possible and have control of Horses and Iron.

The starting technologies for the Spanish are Fishing and Mysticism – enabling Sailing right away. It would be also wise to study the immediately available Polytheism or Meditation (founding Hinduism and Buddhism respectively) right away, and afterwards turn to Masonry and Animal Husbandry.

The civilization has only 1 leader - Isabella.

The Leader - Isabella

Isabella is defined as “Spiritual” and “Expansive”

“Spiritual” will give you an edge of “No anarchy” during revolution. This means that you should change your civics and/or religion frequently (there is a general limit of 1 revolution in 5 turns however). Of course, when doing so you must take into account the effects of the chosen Civics and Religion. Temples are constructed at double speed, meaning that you should discover Priesthood and maybe think of founding several religions (discovering Polytheism is beneficial as it gives you both the Hinduism Religion and the path to Monotheism technology (with Masonry), which is required to Judaism). You should consider building missioners to spread religions, as it will lead to more happy people when switching to “free religion” civic in modern times.

“Expansive” means you construct Granary and Harbor at double speed. This enables quick population growth and prevents health problems – especially since you also receive a +2 health per city. Discover Pottery and Compass to take advantage of those buildings.

This post is part of the series: Civilization IV - Guide To Sid Meier’s Civilization IV PC Game

This series on Civilization IV tells you how to get the best out of the classic Sid Meier PC game. Game strategy and options are reviewed and disscussed

  1. Mastering Civilization IV - Victory Conditions
  2. Mastering Civilization IV – Starting the Game Part I – Selecting a Map (A)
  3. Mastering Civilization IV – Starting the Game - Part II – Selecting a Map (B)
  4. Mastering Civilization IV – Starting the Game - Part III – Climate and Sea Level
  5. Mastering Civilization IV – Starting the Game - Part IV – Map Size
  6. Mastering Civilization IV – Starting the Game - Part V – Difficulty Levels (A)
  7. Mastering Civilization IV – Starting the Game - Part VI – Difficulty Levels (B)
  8. Mastering Civilization IV – Starting the Game - Part VII – Game Speed
  9. Mastering Civilization IV – Choosing the civilization - Overview
  10. Mastering Civilization IV – The American Empire in Civilization IV
  11. Mastering Civilization IV – The Arabian Empire in Civilization IV
  12. Mastering Civilization IV – Choosing Your Player Nation – Aztec Empire
  13. Mastering Civilization IV – Playing As The Chinese Empire - Choosing Your Playable Nation
  14. Mastering Civilization IV – Playing as the Egyptian Empire in Civ IV
  15. Mastering Civilization IV – Choosing Your Nation – English Empire
  16. Mastering Civilization IV – Choosing Which Nation to Play – French Empire
  17. Mastering Civilization IV – Choosing Playable Nations – German Empire
  18. Mastering Civilization IV – Choosing A Playable Nation – Greek Empire
  19. Mastering Civilization IV – Choosing Which Nation to Play – Incan Empire
  20. Mastering Civilization IV – Choosing the nation – Indian Empire
  21. Mastering Civilization IV – Choosing Which Nation to Play in Civ IV – Japanese Empire
  22. Mastering Civilization IV – Choosing Which Nation to Play – Malinese Empire
  23. Mastering Civilization IV – Mongolian Empire in Civ IV - Choosing the Nation to Play in Civ IV PC Game
  24. Mastering Civilization IV – Choosing Playable Nations – Roman Empire
  25. Mastering Civilization IV – Choosing the Nation to Play in Civ IV – Russian Empire
  26. Mastering Civilization IV – Playing as the Persian Empire in Civ IV - Player’s Guide to Choosing their Nation in Civ IV
  27. Mastering Civilization IV – Selecting Playable Nations in Civ IV – Spanish Empire