Civilization 5 Science Victory for G&K and BNW
Completing The Apollo Program, Building Spaceship Parts and Winning The Space Race
This is a general Guide to how the Scientific Victory is finished in Civ 5, though Vanilla players will find the Techs required are different in Brave New World. If you want to learn the basics to boosting your Civ's Science Output, see the Guide to Max Scientific Research. There you will find tips to help you improve your Civ's Science output. This Victory Condition is all about getting ahead of other Civs Technologically and creating the necessary parts to leave the planet and end the game.
In order to achieve the Science victory in Civilization 5, you must first build the Apollo Program in one of your Cities, which requires the Rocketry Technology. Sending a man to the moon starts the rush to Research Technologies to build all six space ship parts. Once you've made a part to the spaceship, you must send it to the Capital, then click its unique ability to add it to the Space Ship. You can check your progress on constructing the Spaceship by clicking Additional Information in the top right, then Victory Progress. The Hot Key for this screen is F8. Note that these parts are found in the units section of a city's build queue.
The key to success here is to survive into the Late Game and have enough of a Scientific lead on other Civs to Research Technologies necessary to build the Spaceship parts before them, while also having the Production necessary to make each Spaceship Part in your Cities. You may play to win Scientifically early on or use this Victory Condition as a fallback if your Cultural/Domination/Diplomatic Victory is not going well.
One key tip is to make at least one city very much dedicated to Science, which is often the Capital unless you have found a site for a City next to a mountain that can support a massive population later in the game - that would be the best spot for your National College and any Artists' Guilds (for +2 Science per Specialist with Rationalism). Build Academies around this dedicated city when you can, and push for all science related buildings to be built in that city. Another city could be dedicated to production. In the early game, it will create military units to protect your lands while your primary Science City pushes to create the buildings needed to grow a large population and keep them happy. Later, your Production City it can take all that power and apply it to winning the space race. If you are playing Wide (many Cities), know that each additional City adds 5% to Research Costs, so each City needs to hold its own and grow, while having all Science Buildings to make up for its cost. 5% of a tech that costs 5-7,000 is a significant bump and if your Cities are not putting out enough beakers, you will not be as swift in researching late-game techs as you could be with a smaller empire of more efficient Cities.
Make your goal to build your Population as high as possible and connect Luxuries early on, have Philosophy once you have Libraries in all Cities so that you can create a National College to give your best City a big Scientific Boost. Develop your cities for food and put many Scientist Specialists to work to raise your output. With Rationalism, all Specialists produce Science, so you will eventually need enough Food/Population in all Cities so that you can run Specialists in every slot! Trade for Luxury Resources to trigger Golden Ages which dramatically affect your income later on, once you have buildings like markets, bank, and stock exchanges. When you finally launch your Apollo Program, the Space race is on. The Space Ship is assembled from the following parts which, again, must be assembled in the Capital:
In order to complete the Space Ship you require 6 Aluminum. This is important to know, for you may need to Ally with City-States, Trade with Other Civs, Build Recycling Centers (Ecology Tech, allowed up to 5 of these in Empire and get +2 Aluminum each), or even go to war in order to get the necessary Resources.
- SS Cockpit (requires Satellites Technology):
Often the first part to be built. Satellites also unlocks the Hubble Space Telescope, which gives your Scientist Specialists +1 Production and all Engineer Specialists +1 Science. - SS Booster x3 (requires Advanced Ballistics Technology):
Three Boosters must be made. There is plenty of time to do this given you need Particle Physics and Nanotechnology, which are each in different directions. - SS Stasis Chamber (Requires Nanotechnology Tech):
This one is equal to the Engine in terms of Tech cost, though it does also unlock the powerful XCOM Squad, which can help you defend your lands or even go on the offensive against another Civ that is completing the Spaceship. - SS Engine (requires Particle Physics Technology):
You only need one of these. It is the only thing unlocked with that Technology, so I recommend you get it last - the other techs give you military power that is very helpful should a war break out late in the game.
Spaceship Factory & Hubble Space Telescope
The City that builds Hubble will get a free Spaceship Factory along with an additional +25% boost to producing Spaceship Parts, while your other Cities will need the Robotics Tech to access this building. The Spaceship Factory provides a +50% Production Boost while building Spaceship Parts, so you can have one City giving +50% and one +75% (Hubble). The factories are necessary to stay competitive if you have another Civ on your heels or are playing catch-up. Pay attention to what Civs have completed Apollo and those that are actively assembling Spaceship Parts. Two to three Cities should have this building if you want to optimize the process, for you will need to make multiple parts at once to finish even faster. Getting to Satellites first, building Hubble and getting its 2 Free Great Scientists will greatly aid you in Researching the required Techs for the ship, as will Faith purchases of Great Scientists if you have finished Rationalism.
Buying/Rushing Spaceship Parts
Freedom and Order both have a level 3 Tenet that will allow you to quickly produce Spaceship Parts. Freedom's is better, letting you use Gold to buy them. Order will let you rush a Spaceship part with a Great Engineer. Given they cost about as much as a Wonder each, this is not a waste at all. The Former is more friendly to newbies however, though anyone who has maxed the Tradition Social Policies can purchase Great Engineers with Faith starting in the Industrial Era. Autocracy is horrible for a Scientific Win in Civ 5, unless you are at the end of the tech tree and just don't feel like finishing them off.
Learning More About Science in Civ 5
Again, this is specific to the Science Victory and is not meant to be a comprehensive Guide to Science. To see that Guide, click here.
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16Another thing I did: When I started building ss parts I change the route of my caravans.Instead of trading to other civs and city-states I lead my caravans within my cities bringing production to cities that is building the ss parts.The intention of that is to increase the production of the particular city.
