Civilization 5 Diplomatic Victory Guide & Tips
Delegates & Being Elected World Leader through The United Nations
This Guide will teach you strategies to winning a Diplomatic Victory in Civilization 5: Brave New World and Gods and Kings DLC. We'll discuss the founding of the World Congress, Delegates available in each Era and some of the resolutions you can pass on your way to the founding of the United Nations, becoming the Host nation, and the vote for World Leader. Learn how you can manipulate other Civs' votes to make your resolutions pass or block a proposal from another Civ.
This Guide is distinct from my coverage of the World Congress, which includes a list of all Resolutions. I also have a page about interacting with Civs and positive/negative Diplomacy Modifiers.
Formation of the First World Congress: Becoming Host
The first Civilization to Research Printing Press and meet all other Civs will form the first World Congress and become host. A vote for this one would make no sense, as every Civ would simply vote for themselves. If you are going for a Diplomatic Victory, certainly try to be the one to do this by exploring the map and aiming for the required Tech. Becoming Host early and maintaining some alliances with City States (read for Guide) early in Politics can help you maintain your position as host and aid you in passing resolutions. If a Host Civ is destroyed, the Host position is automatically passed to the Host with the most Delegates. I assume a tie would mean a Special Session.
Development of the Congress to the United Nations
The World Congress evolves as Civilizations do. When half the current Civs in the game make it to the next Era, or one makes it to the Era beyond, the Congress will evolve. Member Civs will get more delegates, the Host Civ gets more delegates, and City-State Alliances begin to produce delegates. When the Congress evolves, all current Proposals are put on hold and a Special Session is held to determine the new Host. This special session happens quickly, so you should try to have your City State Alliances in good shape if you want to steal or keep your position as Host.
Delegates Through the Eras
Here is a list of the four stages of the World Congress, the final upon reaching the Atomic Era and the formation of the United Nations which automatically begins the World Leader Proposal every other session (so every 20 turns). The number of Delegates has nothing to do with Population. Era is the state 50% of Civs much reach, or that one must pass for the stats to take effect. Host is the total number of delegates the host gets before other bonuses. City-State Ally bonuses are delegates per City-State Ally, only one Civ at once can be an Ally of a CS and get these delegates, though they can frequently change hands. Conquered City-States' delegates are lost as they are no longer separate entities with their own representation. Turns is the number of turns between World Congress or U.N. sessions.
| Era | Host Delegates | Member Delegates | CS Ally Delegates | Turns |
| Renaissance | 2 | 1 | 0 | 30 |
| Industrial | 3 | 2 | 1 | 25 |
| Modern | 5 | 3 | 1 | 20 |
| Atomic: United Nations | 6 | 4 | 2 | 10 |
Making Proposals and Passing Resolutions
After every session, the Host and one other Civilization will get to make Proposals for the Congress. This is not really the place to list all proposals, but for the purposes of Diplomatic Victory you should know that some resolutions will anger Civs, while others will appreciate and even support your Proposals. They may grow angry if you help their resolution to fail, or manipulate other Civs to ensure that it does. Choose Proposals that will benefit your goals and highlight the strengths of your Civ.
When it's your turn to make a Proposal to Congress, hover over them and note the Diplomatic impact. If another Civ is already Hostile to you, you could trigger a War with your proposal. Scientific Civs may be angered by Arts Funding, while most Civs will appreciate things like the International Games. Anger and Respect toward your Civ will stick around for a long time, so choose wisely if you do not want to risk War or get Denounced, while also choosing proposals that benefit your people. You may even find a resolution that benefits you while improving relations with another Civ.
Boosting Delegates Through World Religion and World Ideology
You can give yourself (and cooperative Civs) 2 extra Delegates each by passing the Enact World Religion (available early) and Enact World Ideology (available after Radio) resolutions. It is worth Trading with other Civs to get the religion you founded or follow passed as the official; same with Idelogy. Civs with opposing Ideologies or Religions will surely be upset by this, so be careful proposing on higher difficulties if things are already tense.
Getting the Votes of Other Civs
In order to Trade for other Leaders' votes on resolutions you want to fail or pass, you need to first establish an Embassy in the other Civ's Capital City. Doing so allows you to move one of your Spies to the other Civ's Capital, where you will get to select to use them as a Diplomat. When the Diplomat has arrived and made introductions, which takes several turns, you'll get the World Congress option on the trade screen with the other Civ. You can ask them to choose Yea/Nay to either of the proposals available.
With Spies, you can see how some of the other Civs are going to vote on various proposals by going to the World Congress screen at the top right. Hover over, check how the vote will go and make an educated guess on any votes unaccounted for. You may use your Trade/World Congress negotiations to get them to change their vote or guarantee you go their way. If you are powerful, you may even demand they vote a certain way although it certainly won't win you any favor with them.
You are free to use your delegates in multple votes. During voting, hover over a resolution to see how the vote is expected to go. You may not need to put so many delegates into Sciences Funding if it's already expected to pass. You will then preserve more delegates to make the other vote go your way.
Increasing the Delegates You Control
City-State allies are the biggest boost, while world ideology and religion come in second. Being elected Host will give you an edge of course, and having strong Friendships with other Civs will cost you fewer resources to buy their vote. The Forbidden Palace Wonder (requires Patronage Social Policy and Banking Tech) will give you +2 Delegates, permanently if you can construct it. The late-game Globalization tech gives +1 Delegate per Diplomatic Spy that you control in each Civ's Capital and may save you if the game is running long and you are having trouble with your votes.
The United Nations Proposal: Being Voted World Leader
Elect World Leader Delegate Requirements
As previously mentioned, at the creation of the United Nations in the Atomic Era, this Proposal begins coming up every other session, which amounts to 20 turns once it's rolling. The Delegates required for Election seem to come out to 60% of available Delegates based on the number of Civilizations and City-States in the game. You can see the required Delegates by clicking Diplomacy in the Top Right. Annexed, Puppeted, or Razed City-States and Conquered Civs no longer have delegates as they are not separate entities with representation, so they will slightly lower the number of delegates needed to be elected Leader of the World and win the Diplomatic Victory.
Getting Civs to Vote You World Leader
Military might seems to be a must for this, for the respect of other Civs does not come easily without it. Even with vast riches, I was not able to get the vote of a Friendly Civ that was doing well nor a broke one with much need of my help. My Civ was very small (Venice) and I suppose I just did not have the military necessary. Those with big Militaries and clean histories with other Civs will find getting those extra votes much simpler than my first win. Overall, City-States provided my win, and they will for nearly every player pursuing victory through Diplomacy.
City-State Delegates are a Must to Be Elected
Unless you've eliminated all City-States in the game, a Civ or two, dramatically reducing the number of Delegates required to win, and somehow control enough yourself (which would be incredibly challenging), you are going to need Alliances with City-States to win a game Diplomatically. This pretty much makes the Patronage Social Policy and a high level of gold income a must. Patronage will raise the base, lower degradation of influence per turn, and flat make it easier to keep and make a City-State ally. It will also allow you to build the aforementioned Forbidden Palace for the +2 permanent Delegates.
Remember, Civs may get pissed if you steal their Allies, though as long as you don't have a long string of transgressions against them or tight borders, it alone is unlikely to trigger War -- though it's worth noting that some Civs are more patient than others.
Guaranteeing Your Delegates & Allying City States
Quests are the way to go with befriending and Allying City-States. They are free, and doing most of them benefits your Civ directly even if it did shift your focus, like producing a Great Artist or building a Wonder to impress a Civ. Explore the World so that you know of all City States and can find those with duplicate Quests, or those you can befriend that will give you a resource when Allied that will fulfill a Quest for yet another City-State. You can take a few in a few short turns this way.
Plant Spies in City-States to try to rig Elections there (their default action) and every so often your Influence with them will get a bump. If another Civ has Allied with that City-State, you can try the Coup button to try to overthrow them and swap your current Influence. You'll become the new Ally with their old Influence, and they'll have yours - whatever that may be. This last option is best accomplished with a level 3 Spy. Level your Spies by stealing tech from Civs more advanced than yours, or putting your future Coup agent into your own Capital in hopes of killing a couple enemy Spies. The National Intelligence Agency National Wonder which requires Radio technology to be researched, and available for construction after building a police station in each city, will give all Spies +1 level. This can greatly aid your Coup attempts.
Though early-game, the reduction in influence granted by gifts of Gold to City-States since Vanilla Civ 5 makes Quests the more reliable source, late-game, Gold will come into play more and it will be much easier to buy your influence with City-States. Great Merchants are your friends, as their trade missions can buy you influence and give a large sum of gold to buy you even more influence. Don't stop doing Quests to keep your influence high. As the World Leader vote grows closer and you are sure you have secured enough Delegates, scroll down the Diplomacy tab and get a glance at your current Influence with each City-State (hover over their icons). Shore up some with gold, do Quests for others, and keep them well into Alliance territory so that they are harder to steal.
The World Leader Vote
If you've Allied 80+% of the City States or convinced enough other leaders to vote for you, then you should win the Diplomatic Victory on the first vote or at least be close. The top two Civs receive +2 permanent delegates after each vote, which will help them next time - but you'll need to tip the balance by stealing some alliances, securing more votes from other Civs next time, waiting it out until the +2 votes for being one of the top 2, or else give up and take a Time or Scientific Victory. If multiple Civs are in first or second place, they will all get the +2 Votes. This mechanic will eventually allow you to win a Diplomatic Victory even if many CSs have been removed from the game.
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8I have surpassed various eras, yet those leaders who lost their capitals to me just kept on denouncing eventhough I have given them favors like returning their workers from barbarian captivity and sided with them on war against their enemy to whom i have no business with.
I ran into a problem recently where another Civ kept performing Coups and knocking me back down to friends. The solution in the end was to donate enough money to stop that from happening, and I won the game as a result. When the Influence is nearly the same, the chance to perform the Coup is very high. Getting a gap in there made it much harder for Montezuma to keep performing his coups - he was doing it to 3-4 CSs, enough to prevent Diplomatic Victory. I have to say the AI did a good job on that one, as it delayed my Victory for quite some time.
Last time I win diplo is with dutch,
I revive 1 civ from death, and just keep my money since dutch is such a powerhouse (+300 gpt) an in the last turn before the vote, I just spam money to all Cs the all of them become my ally, Isnt that too easy? I feel that diplomatic way need more challengeWhat do you think?