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🎭 Culture & Development

4 culture levels28 gated wonders30 gated buildings25 gated units

What each city culture level, from Weak to Legendary, costs, gives and unlocks.

A city gains culture from buildings, specialists, projects and events. When it reaches the level's threshold it advances and a culture event fires. Higher culture is worth more Victory Points and unlocks better wonders, buildings, units and projects, but each Citizen consumes more.

The four culture levels

Level Culture to advance VP per city Governor XP/turn Citizen consumption Level-up project
Weak 100 1 4
-1 Food/Pop
Council I
Developing 500 2 6
-2 Food/Pop -1 Iron/Pop
Council II
Strong 2,000 3 8
-3 Food/Pop -1 Iron/Pop -1 Stone/Pop
Council III
Legendary 5,000 4 10
-4 Food/Pop -1 Iron/Pop -1 Stone/Pop -1 Wood/Pop
Council IV

Culture to advance is the culture a city needs to leave that level, from 100 (Weak to Developing) up to 5,000 (past Legendary). Past Legendary each further culture step costs 5,000 × (steps + 1) and is worth +1 VP. Governor XP per turn is what a governor earns each turn from the city's culture level. The level-up project, Council I to IV, is the city's default project at that level.

What each level unlocks

Tiered city projects such as Council, Festival, Decree, Inquiry, Hunt, Olympiad and Convoy need the city at exactly that level. The Treasury, Forum and Archive tiers need at least that level.

Developing

Wonders
Urban buildings
  • Cold Baths · Baths
  • CourthouseCourthouse
  • Grocer · Market
  • LibraryLibrary
  • Mahabodhi TempleTemple · Holy Site
  • SteleStele · Aksum Stele
  • Stronghold · Garrison
  • The Adur Burzen-Mihr · Holy Site
  • The Cao'an · Holy Site
  • The Church of the Holy Sepulchre · Holy Site
  • The TempleTemple of Solomon · Holy Site
  • Theater · Odeon
Units
Projects (exactly this level)
Convoy IICouncil IIDecree IIFestival IIHunt IIInquiry IIOlympiad II
Projects (this level or higher)
Archive IIForum IIOpulenceTreasury II

Strong

Wonders
Urban buildings
Units
Projects (exactly this level)
Convoy IIICouncil IIIDecree IIIFestival IIIHunt IIIInquiry IIIOlympiad III
Projects (this level or higher)
Archive IIIForum IIITreasury III

Culture-gated units come in pairs. The Developing unit, such as the Battering Ram, Hoplite or Hastatus, goes obsolete at Strong and is replaced by its upgrade, such as the Siege Tower, Phalangite or Legionary. Buildings and wonders also need their techs and other requirements; only the culture requirement is shown here.

Capture and assimilation

Level Extra capture turns Extra assimilate turns Assimilation per turn
Weak +0 +0 −1
Developing +1 +10 −2
Strong +2 +20 −3
Legendary +3 +30 −4

A captured foreign city needs 20 assimilate turns plus the founder's culture bonus, and its yields are modified by -50% until it assimilates. The countdown moves by the city's current culture level each turn, so higher culture assimilates faster. Extra capture turns add to the base of 2; see City Capture Mechanics.

The Development setup option

The Development option in advanced setup has nothing to do with city culture. It sets how developed the AI nations are when the game begins (average cities, capital population and free techs), and how many turns the AI waits before building wonders and founding religions.

Setting Avg cities Capital pop Free techs AI no-Wonder turns AI no-Religion turns Notes
Default — — — — — The player receives the default number of Cities and Technologies for the currently selected game options.
None — — — — — Existing Nations don't start with any extra Cities or Technologies.
Fledgling 2 2 2 5 4 Existing Nations start with an average of 2 Cities and 2 Technologies.
Established 3 3 3 10 8 Existing Nations start with an average of 3 Cities and 3 Technologies.
Advanced 4 4 4 15 12 Existing Nations start with an average of 4 Cities and 4 Technologies.
Massive 5 5 5 20 16 Existing Nations start with an average of 5 Cities and 5 Technologies.