Civ 5 Korean Civilization

Civ Bonuses, AI Info, Strategies, Unique Units and Buildings

Updated for Gods and Kings and Brave New World DLCs

Civilization's Leader: Sejong

Civ Bonus: Scholars of the Jade Hall
Free tech boost each time a Scientific Building/Wonder is built in the Capital. More importantly, Specialists and Great Person Tile Improvements all provide +2 Science. This is then increased by any +% buildings in the City. I won my first game on Immortal with this Civ, with only a few Cities due to this factor and Babylon was even in that game.

Unique Unit: Turtle Ship
Requires Astronomy, replaces Caravel
36 strength vs a Caravel's 20. If you want to steal a Coastal City or two, this is your time to do so - but overall, these are simply wonderful coastal defenders. Trouble is, they can't cross Ocean so Korea is stunted in that department - units may still embark and cross these tiles with Astronomy, however.

Unique Building: Hwach'a
Requires Physics, replaces Trebuchet
The Hwach'a has 26 ranged strength vs a Trebuchet's 14 and has +1 Sight, but loses the +200% bonus vs Cities. It is meant to be a unit killer and does so very well. It is about 33% weaker against Cities than a Trebuchet, but do not let that stop you from building them. They upgrade to Cannons and later Artillery, so they can do a wonderful job protecting your lands from invading forces while you continue your Scientific progress with this wonderful Civilization.

Strategies/Ideas for playing Korea:
Korea is one of the best Civilizations in Civ 5, but are only available as a Steam DLC. As you can see from above, their Unique Ability more than makes up for any weakness in their Unique Units, and you will not need either of those units for long. Korea is capable of rapid technological advancement, so long as you make heavy use of Specialists, Great Person Tile Improvements, and follow the basic principles for generating high Science per turn.

There is no one best way to play Korea for they could get a good Science boost with many Cities so long as they utilize Specialists, but small Cities have a hard time using Specialists while also growing. I have found Korea is quite capable with only a few Cities - this means Tradition Social Policies will suit them well, for the extra growth it provides to a smaller Empire. After getting your Luxury technologies researched, go directly for Science techs - Writing, Education, Scientific Theory, and Plastics. Get your Artist Guilds going - you want to utilize Great Writers constantly to help boost your Culture per Turn, use Great Artists to create a few Works of Art, then move on to using them for Golden Ages, and try to make use of Great Musicians by getting as many slots as you can to further raise Culture. Later, use them to culture bomb Civs of differing Ideologies to reduce the effect of their Tourism's Influence over you. Overall, you need these Specialists and their works so that you do not have a hard time finishing Rationalism. There is little point to playing this Civ Culturally, but Social Policies are still necessary to get the most out of any Civ. You should have a tech lead by the Medieval Era, or at least be able to be further ahead in terms of Eras, so the Sistine Chapel that comes with Acoustics (to also unlock Musicians) will be a big help in adopting more Policies during your game.

If you Found a Religion, go for Beliefs that will help your Civilization grow in terms of Population. Feed the World is an excellent belief, providing +2 Food to each of your Cities, while you can also get a direct boost to Growth. Do not worry about spreading it or having a World Religion, just ensure your Religion is present in your own Cities. Having Faith stored up by the Industrial Era will let you start buying up Great People. A few Holy Sites might not be a bad idea, since they generate Faith to aid in this while also giving +2 Science.

Although you can generate more Science per turn with Korea by utilizing ALL Specialists, it is best to stick with Scientists and Engineers so that you do not generate any Great Merchants. Great Engineers can help you rush Wonders, while you want as many Great Scientists for Academies as you can get. Korea will get +14 Science per turn from Academies once Scientific and Atomic Theory are both researched, so you want as many of those planted as possible by the time you hit those Techs. Spread these around your City that has the National College. That doesn't necessarily mean the Capital, for if you can get another City next to a Mountain for an Observatory, you'll want the NC there along with all your Guilds. That is, if that City doesn't have too much Mountain around and has the food resources/grassland/river necessary for a population to truly boom.

Explore the world to find Maritime City-States, which will help you run Specialists without sacrificing Population growth. Cultural will also help, as will any other kind, but those two are highest priority. You need a Military capable of defending your lands and should stay on top of Defensive buildings to make your Cities harder targets. It is easy to get lost in rapid Science advancement and forget that your Military is weak, your Cities ripe targets. The Hwach'a are excellent for defending against Units, while the Turtle Ship can defend any Coastal Cities - just one or two is enough. They are beasts on the defense, and capable of taking over Cities if you find it necessary.

Utilizing Specialists while maintaining growth is the challenge with Korea. Do not go with only one Worker per city, but rather 2. Eventually you can ditch a couple of Workers. This will keep your Cities always working improved tiles, and of course you want these to be almost entirely comprised of Farms, with a few Hills for Mines. You can use Gold to buy high-cost Production buildings (Windmill, Factory) to help your output for producing other Buildings. You should use most of your Trade Routes to boost one or two Cities by providing them food. Getting to a certain point in your Population growth will lead to natural Specialist use, for there will be no more tiles to work. Grow that Population as high as possible to make best use of Korea's UA. Every time I have played them, I've had slightly lower population Cities than I would with other Civs due to heavy Specialist use, but took #1 in Technology by the mid-game and quickly outpaced other Civs to win a Science Victory. That is the obvious choice for Korea, and for new players it should be an easy play, particularly on a lower Difficulty where you can build the Great Library.

The Free Tech Boost in the Korean Capital for every Scientific Building and Wonder functions similarly to the completion of a Research Agreement, so you can leap ahead at least several turns on the tech you're researching when they complete. You'll get several turns worth of Science, so always get these buildings up immediately in Seoul. The Great Library counts for two - you will build a Scientific Wonder, while simultaneously getting a Library - it gives you a massive boost plus a free Tech, so try and rush for this Wonder if you're playing on a difficulty where building it is possible.

Here's a list of constructs that give this boost in the order that they are unlocked:

• Library
• Great Library - Wonder
• National College - National Wonder
• University
• Oxford University - National Wonder
• Observatory - Capital next to Mountain
• Public School
• Research Lab

As far as I can tell, the Porcelain Tower does not give this boost, but you get a free Great Scientist from it and +50% to Research Agreements, so it is still a highly desirable Wonder.

I use Tradition, a bit of Commerce to get cheaper purchasing and higher Gold output in the Capital and Landsknechts to help defend my lands, then transition into Rationalism. You will be able to buy both Great Scientists and Engineers with Faith this way. When it comes time to choose an Ideology, I would pick none other than Freedom for its boosts to Specialists and allowing Gold purchase of Space Ship Parts. Reducing the food consumption and Unhappiness generated by Specialists is key, and that alone is good enough to justify the cost, but you will also find a Tenet to make Academies give another +4 Science, bringing them to +18 - which is then amplified by any +% buildings in the City. By that time, make sure your Military can protect against other Civs with differing Ideologies and don't do anything too aggressive to anger your neighbors. You will eventually run all types of Specialist in all your Cities to maximize output, and the Statue of Liberty will give them all +1 Production to aid your Cities in building late-game buildings like Hospitals and Medical Labs that are necessary to continue raising Science. Freedom will also help you with Golden Ages, making them last 50% longer and aiding you in adopting more Policies.

Sejong's Korea is a great Civilization whose strength lies within one of the best Unique Abilities available to any Leader in the game. The +2 Science per Specialist being amplified by percentage buildings is huge, and the tech boosts from Science buildings in the Capital will help you make sudden leaps. The higher your Science output, the better this bonus will perform. With fertile lands you can amass a large population to get further bonuses to Science. In terms of power, they are easily one of the best Civs in the game. Share your tips and strategies to playing Korea with other players using the comments form below.

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Our Sims Forum is the place to go for faster answers to questions and discussions about the game. Use the form below to share your own experiences and provide helpful tips to other readers.

Han seung jae says...

Hi I'm from Korea!!
I also play Korea.
I am happy that Korea is your new favorite civ.
Have a good time !~~~~

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19th August 2014 7:47am

Toad says...

I won my first game on King as Korea, and let me tell you they are my new favorite civ. The science was unreal.

I usually do lots of exploring, but with Korea, I just sat back and enjoyed racking up science. I started out playing Tall but had to change my mind once India and I fought over iron, while Babylon simultaneously declared war on me for an unimaginably epic area of land. Neither of those Civs survived, I mean it's the 1800s and I'm using tanks against spearmen and cannons.

I was quite content not exploring the world. In fact I didn't know what was beyond Babylon until I unlocked satellites. The only issue I had was when literally the entire world declared war on me, which lasted from 1898-2000. Even then, my tech level was so high that the global alliance was little more than a few frigates randomly coming near my coastal cities.

Never, ever, get the entire world against you if you care for your people's happiness though.

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31st July 2014 11:04pm

Michael T says...

I like your approach. I had used the exploration policy track to get more food out of my sea tiles, at least on the Archipelago map. I must confess I have dissed maritime city states for too long, but your post helps me see their value.

If anything, it seems now that Korea may be a bit overpowered in Tech, but it does seem the way to go at the higher levels.

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29th November 2015 1:45pm

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