Civ 5 Maya Guide | The top-tier civ nobody talks about

Welcome to another Civilization 5 Tutorial Guide, today I'm looking at The Mayans (Maya) led by Pacal in Sid Meier's Civilization V! The Maya are actually a very, very powerful civ that can play the game in many ways - although their ability to straddle science and religion, coupled with their free great people early in the game make them a total powerhouse with good flexibility. Their unique unit (atlatlis) replaces the archer, but it's unlocked immediately, meaning your war stick is not shabby at all! Their pyramid (shrine) is equally amazing, providing 2 science and 2 faith very early on in each city!

Contents:

0:00 - The Greatest Into Ever
0:50 - The Mayan Long Calendar Ability
2:15 - The Atlatlist Unit is OP
4:45 - The Pyramid (shrine)
5:00 - Maya Strategies
6:00 - Faith & Great People
7:45 - Ideology and Civics
9:30 - Common Maya mistakes
10:55 - Summary

Title: Civ 5 Maya Guide | The top-tier civ nobody talks about
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SEO: Welcome to my official Sid Meier's Civilization V (Civ 5) YouTube Tutorial Series! Founded in 2016 and revitalized in 2021! Civ 5 is perhaps one of the best 4x strategy games of all time. This series will cover over civ v tips and tricks for beginners as I guide you through how to settle a city, what cultural policies to choose, how to tech up fast, how to take cities, win wars, defend your lands, negotiate peace, take to the seas and much more!

About the game:
Sid Meier's Civilization V is a 4X video game in the Civilization series developed by Firaxis Games. The game was released on Microsoft Windows in September 2010,[3] on OS X on November 23, 2010, and on Linux on June 10, 2014.

Check out @PotatoMcWhiskey @TheCivLifeR @boesthius @civilization and @YogsCiv !

In Civilization V, the player leads a civilization from prehistoric times into the future on a procedurally generated map, attempting to achieve one of a number of different victory conditions through research, exploration, diplomacy, expansion, economic development, government and military conquest. The game is based on an entirely new game engine with hexagonal tiles instead of the square tiles of earlier games in the series.[5] Many elements from Civilization IV and its expansion packs have been removed or changed, such as religion and espionage (although these were reintroduced in its subsequent expansions). The combat system has been overhauled, by removing stacking of military units and enabling cities to defend themselves by firing directly on nearby enemies.[6] In addition, the maps contain computer-controlled city-states and non-player characters that are available for trade, diplomacy and conquest. A civilization's borders also expand one tile at a time, favoring more productive tiles,[7] and roads now have a maintenance cost, making them much less common.[8] The game features community, modding, and multiplayer elements.[5] It is available for download on Steam.

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[thegardencity]

Honorable mention to great admiral which can enter ocean tiles, allowing you to meet every civ much earlier in the game than would otherwise be allowed

[zegyboo]

Maya is a god-tier civ for sure.

The +2 science from Pyramids gives the same early-game science boost as Babylon assuming you have a 4 city empire.

Then the faith boost from Pyramids is *almost* as good as Ethiopia or the Celts for getting first Pantheon. It's arguably better than the Celt bonus for grtting a religion, though the Celts will always beat you to that Pantheon (which often gives them a faith boost that will get them an earlier religion). One thing I love about the civs that have faith bonuses is that you can often take a non-faith pantheon and still get a religion, which can be a substantial bonus all game long in the right circumstances.

Then the great people generation is just gravy If you rush Theology then and get a fairly early scientist you'll actually have a bigger science boost than Babylon by the Medieval era (you have an Academy PLUS Pyramids), though Babylon will obviously get more scientists by the late game. Early Engineers and Prophets can also be major game-changers, and a General could be a life-saver if things look bad enough (or good enough if you need to expand).

The Atlatlist is ... ok. Their stats are actually identical to an Archer so you're not getting a stronger unit. It's 10% cheaper to build than archers, so you can get them out a little faster, and you can build them without researching Archery, but Archery is litterally the cheapest tier of technology, so it's not exactly game-changing.

My recommendations are the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus to get a little more from your great people, and the Leaning Tower to lean into those Great People and get even more of them. Someone else also mentioned taking a Great Admiral early to explore the world before researching Astronomy, I wouldn't say it's the strongest option but it's fairly unique (besides Polynesia).

[AvengerAtIlipa]

The biggest problem with the Maya imo is that Theology is a very expensive tech to beeline. Not even the Atlatlist is enough to completely protect you from early ai aggression on higher difficulties. If you want a free early Great Scientist, you might as well just play as Babylon.

[valzalel]

I like how Pacal looks like he's about the fall off his pyramid in the thumbnail 😅

[nicholasbrodersen]

I just played a game as the Mayans. When I looked at the special building and special ability, I immediately saw it’s potential and made me wonder why more people don’t talk about them.

[Customerbuilder]

Thanks for the Civ5 content. And, thanks for the extra UURLY!

[nemesis]

Atl-Atl (ist). The person using a device (the atlatl) for throwing a spear or dart that consists of a rod or board with a projection (such as a hook) at the rear end to hold the weapon in place until released

[moritzretter]

Maya is fun to play. I beat Deity culture victory with them. I used those eartly archers to conquer a city state right next to me and so i had amazing special resources the whole game. I only had to restart a couple times to not have too much jungle tiles. It's one of the few Civs that can catch up to the Deity tech advantage. I went tradition but ended up having 6 own cities and then I conquered Brazil to take his tourism and that was enough to win.

[hexagonearther]

defo gonna try em out, never knew they looked so fun

[Mulch_Muncher.]

Such a well made vid for a game I barely got into! Definitely gonna give them a try

[nomdeplume]

Good vid, but a Great Engineer wll make it harder to get Great Scientists later on, same with a Great Merchant, so I would probably save those two for after Scientist, Prophet, Artist, Writer, and maybe a General or Admiral if you need one. Generally a low-priority thing. Also, Merchant is worse than Engineer, so take Merchant last.

[thepopulargirl]

Was waiting for this one. The mayans treat piety like it's rationalism.

[Eintracht-uycz]

The 1st civ with which I beat Deity. They aren't just "very strong", they are easily one of the top 5 civs overall.

[pennyboardzZz]

I was looking for a Maya guide yesterday this is epic

[keyboardsmoosh]

😂 bro I searched how to play maya as a joke and then I came across ur vid jumbo, I was like what no way

[davidlee]

I like rushing borobodur with a GE. Gives you a decent headstart on religion. By midgame it's a nice 40-50 gpt with Tithe.

[BloodRoseKitten]

This dude kept stealing my tech.... 4 times, so I declared war on him, destroyed him, and now everyone hates me.

[HVLLOWS]

Do you have an Aztec guide? I never played as them.

[ktoztam]

Funny how those civs that are great for human player are often the weakest if played by a.i. Rome and Mayans are always the weakest, at least in those games I have played and I have played many.

[domeplsffs]

Order Idiology does NOT favor Tall - it favors wide empires. Get your stuff straight, dude. Pretty mediocre guide all in all.