(OUT OF DATE/2UC)A Vox Populi(CBP) Guide: Poland

This guide is currently out of date for the 5.0 aka 4UC integration patch of Vox Populi. I thought it would be easier to make new guides instead of trying to edit these, plus they may be good to have if someone wanted to play an older version of Vox Populi. However, do note that some things in this guide may be out of date, as due to both busier life stuff and the knowledge that 4UC has been coming for a while some parts of the guides weren’t updating even with other VP changes

Poland has had minimal changes pre 4uc, so this guide is still mostly intact

Once a new version of this guide comes out, it will be linked here [new guide link waiting]

These guides are designed to help players who are new to Civ but still interested in Vox Populi, familiar with Civ but new to Vox Populi, or even those well versed in Vox Populi who just want to see if there's anything they didn't know about a particular civilization. I am actually a big fan of Zigzagzigal's Civ guide series, and it really helped me learn a lot about the game, and I wanted to bring a similar experience for fans of the Vox Populi or Community Balance Patch modpack. For those interested in the modpack it can be downloaded here[forums.civfanatics.com]

Anyways, without further ado, onto the Polish!

Before I go into depth with this guide, here's an explanation of some terminology I'll be using throughout for the sake of newer players.

Beelining - Focusing on obtaining a technology early by only researching technologies needed to research it and no others. For example, to beeline Bronze Working, you'd research Mining and Bronze Working and nothing else until Bronze Working was finished.
Finisher - The bonus for completing a Social Policy tree (e.g. +33% Great Scientist rate and +25% growth in all cities from rationalism.)
GWAM - Great Writers, Artists and Musicians. These are the three types of Great People who can make Great Works, a major source of tourism for cultural Civs.
Opener - The bonus for unlocking a Social Policy tree (e.g. +25% Great Person Rate and +100% construction of guilds in Artistry)
Tall Empire - A low number of cities with a high population each.
UA - Unique Ability - the unique thing a Civilization has which doesn't need to be built.
UB - Unique Building - A replacement for a normal building that can only be built and used by one Civilization.
UI - Unique Improvement - A tile improvement that can be made by workers that doesn't replace any other improvement that can only be made by a single civilization
UU - Unique Unit - A replacement for a normal unit that can only be built by one Civilization or provided by militaristic City-States when allied.
Uniques - Collective name for Unique Abilities, Units, Buildings, Tile Improvements and Great People
Wide Empire - A high number of cities with a low population each.
XP - Experience Points - Get enough and you'll level up your unit, giving you the ability to heal your unit or get a promotion.

Poland has an avoid forest/jungle start bias. This should help make sure you spawn near pasture resources for your UB. The flat land in general should help your UU too.
Gain a free social policy in the classical era, and one every other era afterwards

Gain 2 additional tenets whenever you adopt an ideology for the first time

A mounted melee unit

Positive One-Off Changes

• Higher combat strength (40 instead of 37)
  
• Higher Movement (5 instead of 4)
  
• Obsoletes at Combined Arms rather than Combustion

Positive Stay on Upgrade Changes

• Forces defender to retreat if it takes more damage then it deals. If defender can't retreat it instead takes 50% more damage(Heavy Charge)
  
• +33% damage against mounted units. +15% while defending in open terrain(Formation I)

Positive Changes

• 100 when completed
  
• Provides 1 free horse resource
  
• +50% towards mounted melee units(up from 33%)
  
• +15xp to mounted melee units
  
• Internal trade routes from this city gain +4(up from +2)
  
• Nearby Horse, Sheep and Cattle resources gain +3&(up from +2 and +0)

These scores are merely my personal opinions from playing and examining this Civ, you may find other uses for the Polish uniques that make you disagree with a certain ranking


Poland has a very strong UU that combines well with their UB to give them a strong army on offense or defense, making domination their preferred victory type
Poland's UB gives some culture, but overall they don't generate a large amount. Their UA circumvents this by giving them the most important part of culture, social policies, for free. They do lack any bonus to tourism however
Poland's UB gives a solid production boost, but they lack any bonus to science
Their UB also gives a bit of gold, but they otherwise lack any strong bonus to gold or diplomacy
FInally, they lack any benefit towards religion.

An oldie but a goodie, Poland's UA is one of the easiest to understand, and one of the least changed from the base game. However, there were changes made. In fact, Poland's UA was actually nerfed. In the base game, you got a free policy every era except for the ancient for a total of 7 over the course of the game. In Vox Populi, it is only every other era, for a total of 4, however you also get 2 additional free tenets when you adopt your first ideology for a total of 6. Ultimately this isn't a big loss and it is still a strong and flexible UA. Poland will be ahead of all but the strongest cultural civs in terms of how many policies they get. The 2 free tenets are especially useful, as this means you can get a tier 2 tenet immediately.

Good lord the yields on that horse!

The Ducal Stable has a very long list of unique features, and really signal the go time for Poland once they come online. As seen above, they give a huge yield boost to pastures. Already it's pretty crazy, even more so if you can nab the God of the Open Skies pantheon or if you go Fealty. You should be on the lookout for pasture resources in your early settling.

Speaking of pasture resources, Ducal Stables are really useful for assisting in making Knights and your UU. First off they give +50% production towards building mounted melee units, making them as quick if not quicker to build then any other same era unit. They also give those units an extra 15xp. This isn't enough to push the unit to an extra promotion, but it does at least put them closer when they're in combat. Finally, it even covers one of the biggest weakness of horse units, needing horses, as each Ducal Stable gives you a free horse resource. Poland can easily get the strategic monopoly on horses even if they don't have much in their starting territory

Above: The Ducal Stables let this city build a knight every 2 turns, where other civs would probably take 3 turns with a normal stable.

The final decently impactful part of the Ducal Stable is the culture it gives upon completion. 100 culture is a solid amount, and with Poland already being good at getting social policies, this makes it certain they will have the lead in social policies.

Then the Winged Hussars arrived! Coming down the mountainside!

Ducal Stables are strong and would already encourage Poland towards some mounted conquest, but the Winged Hussars are what makes Poland a domination civ. Once you grab Chivalry for the Ducal stables, snag education for universities and then beeline for metallurgy. You may even get Winged Hussars up before you are even able to go on your first knight conquest if you have good enough science/no nearby civs to conquer. Winged Hussars have 3 important facts to consider about them. First of is that they are faster. 1 movement may not seem like a ton but it can make all the difference. This means Winged Hussars can move into 2 rough terrain tiles and still have a movement point left. Or it will let them attack and get farther out of counterattack range, or a host of other small scenarios.

The second important fact is their unique promotion, Heavy Charge.

The way Heavy Charge works is that if you deal more damage then you take, you push the enemy unit a tile away and you move into their tile, almost as if you defeated them. This ability needs to be used carefully. You can easily push a unit into a better defensive position, or cause your Winged Hussar to be surrounded by enemy units. Try to attack from an angle where you won't trigger zone of control, or be ready to engage with other units. If you can get a Winged Hussar behind enemy lines you can even push units forward towards the bulk of your army. If an enemy unit can't retreat, when it is cornered by seas, mountains, and/or other units, it will take 50% extra damage, and this is usually the preferable outcome to just moving the enemy unit, although it isn't that controllable on your end, but if you see a cornered unit, take them out.

The last thing to note about Winged Hussars is that they have formation I, meaning they have a big advantage against other mounted units. This is a big deal as the enemy can't really try to counter your mobility with mounted units of their own, as they'll probably get crushed. Ranged units aren't great either as Winged Hussars are fast and can easily chase down a ranged unit. The only real counter comes with Fusiliers, they will give Winged Hussars some trouble, but otherwise they stand up to pretty much anything in the industrial era.

You know the aforementioned "wings" on the Winged Hussars look a lot like saws. Saws of War. Hmm, I'll think of a better name for it just give me a bit

• Forces defender to retreat if it takes more damage then it deals. If defender can't retreat it instead takes 50% more damage(Heavy Charge)
  
• +33% damage against mounted units. +15% while defending in open terrain(Formation I)

Despite being a warmonger, Poland needs to advance through the eras to get the most out of their uniques, so Poland should go Progress instead of Authority. From there they should take the normal warmonger route of Fealty into Imperialism

Opener: If at all possible, try to avoid growing your capital much before you get this, you'll get more science that way. The culture you immediately get from this will likely almost be enough for the next policy

Liberty: If you don't have any worker techs yet, it might be a good idea to save this for later, otherwise this makes sure you're improving stuff ASAP

Organization: Faster workers, settlers, and even great people all help infrastructure get built just a little bit faster

Expertise: Faster building construction is great, especially in the early game where production might be sparse.

Fraternity: Little bit of food and science, both good to have

Equality: You probably won't notice it much now, but you'll be very happy for this once the conquering starts

Finisher: A nice bit of gold to support your armies

Opener: Monasteries are a solid building, and the cheaper faith purchases are nice

Nobility: Cheaper castles with happiness? Yes please

Serfdom: You aren't satisfied with already having the best pastures in the game? Alright they're even better now

Divine Right: More happiness, more culture for having happiness

Burghers: More production and a bit less unhappiness is great to see.

Organized Religion: If you managed to actually found a religion this is pretty decent, but then again you'll conquer one soon enough so it's still solid

Finisher: A bit of extra yields if you are on top of spreading your religion

Opener: Your Great Generals are faster, which is always useful whether you need to push or retreat, plus if you need to do some overseas conquering faster boats is very useful.

Colonialism: You'll have lots of monopolies by now, get some more use out of them.

Regimental Tradition: Faster Great General and Admiral generation, as well as making them stronger, good to have on the land or on the sea

Martial Law: You'll definitely have plenty of puppet cities, and conquered ones too. Both of them will be less of a burden now.

Exploitation: It's a shame this doesn't affect pastures, but you do have other tiles, show them some love.

Civilizing Mission: Gold from conquering cities, and production in said conquered cities, everything you need to push the front line.

Finisher: A stronger navy, and a new way to use air units to help manage unhappiness.

Poland should go Autocracy like any good warmonger.

Elite Forces: New units start better, old units get better quicker, all you could want for a world-conquering horde. In fact, with a military academy and a Ducal Stable, as long as your Winged Hussars aren't obsolete they should come out with a 4th promotion

New World Order: Warmongers need every bonus they can get to reduce unhappiness, and Poland is no exception

Military-Industrial Complex: Cheaper upgrades are always good to have, especially if you are building Winged Hussars still for their promotions

Lightning Warfare: Your generals actually can keep up with your armor units now, not to mention that they are also fighting better

Third Alternative: More resources to support your armor army

Air Supremacy: Free Airports in every city means that you almost don't need a navy as long as you have a city on every continent. Also makes air units quicker to build if you need to.

Statue of Zeus: The one thing mounted units struggle with is cities, this will help with that
Great Library: A bit of a tricky one to get, but it will get you to chivalry that much faster and you aren't doing much else during this era

Oracle: Similar to the Great Library but a bit less contested

Terracotta Army: You're gonna be killing plenty of units, get some culture out of it

Forbidden Palace(Progress only): Cheaper gold purchases is good to see whether you want to boost some buildings or need to get units out quick
Himeji Castle: Will help you keep the cities you conquer, plus you deny it to someone else

Red Fort(Fealty only): Similar to Himeji Castle, you kinda want this just to prevent someone from getting too strong a defense

Brandenburg Gate: Winged Hussars built in a city with this, a Ducal Stable and a military academy start with 4 promotions. Very nice.

Neuschwanstein: A bit hard to get the placement requirements for, but it will help a lot with happiness problems

Prora(Autocracy only): Should almost eliminate your happiness problems
Pentagon(Imperialism only): If you need some air units, now you can get them faster and better
CERN: 2 free techs to finish out the tech tree. Quite incredible

It is easy to look at Poland and think their UA is the center of their strategy, but it really isn't. It is strong, but it is the UB and UU that make Poland's playstyle.

Winged Hussars are really strong, and if you want to wait for them to come online, that is valid. However, Ducal Stables give enough bonuses to make a knight war viable for Poland. It is even possible in the middle of a knight war you unlock Winged Hussars. If that's the case, just upgrade them quickly and continue the war with even more momentum.
You do need an army for early defense, but building mounted units before Ducal Stables is a waste, since with them you build mounted units significantly faster and with more xp.
It can be easy to ignore pasture resources, even horse resources, knowing that the Ducal Stable gives a free horse each. However, that is forgetting that Ducal Stables give huge yields to these tiles. Not to mention that enough horse resources can net you the strategic monopoly for 10% more attacking strength.
Winged Hussars are incredibly effective unit killers, but they are still mounted units. You will need siege to take out cities, or all your Winged Hussar fighting will be for naught.
Winged Hussars move up when they push back a unit, which can leave a great general exposed. Only put it on a Winged Hussar if you have backup to cover them back up.
Knockback is a tricky mechanic to get used to. If you don't pay attention to it, it can easily become a downside for Winged Hussars.

Poland has a nigh unstoppable mid-game mounted rush, and their UA gives them a lot of flexibility, but this doesn't mean they don't share the weaknesses of many other warmongers.

Poland gets this bonus every other era, and there isn't a lot you can do to stop them doing that short of killing them. Do note that Poland doesn't have a ton of culture production, so while this will probably give them a lead, it isn't a major one. What's more important is the 2 tenets they get with their first ideology. Poland will probably have a big power spike come the late Industrial/early Modern when they finish their 3rd tree, so be prepared for them then.
Ducal stables give a big boost towards pasture resources, so try to settle any near Poland and it will probably hurt their yields. Stables in general cost a lot of production to build, and the Ducal Stables are no different, so if Poland has a weak production base it will take them a bit to build these even when they get chivalry, so keep that in mind as well.
Winged Hussars have no good counter in their era, your best hope to fight them is to try and get to fusiliers as fast as possible. However, if that isn't an option, all hope isn't lost. Winged Hussars will still struggle against cities, so Poland will have to bring siege. Try to use your own mounted units to flank and take them out, and even if Poland can easily kill those units afterwards, they will struggle to take out your cities without siege. Even if you have good units to fight them with though, be careful how you position. Keep your units in a solid line, don't give them a good opportunity to push a unit out of position. Heavy Charge can be a liability to Poland if they are caught in zone of control.
Early-Game Warmongers: This is the prime time to take out Poland as all they might have at this point is an extra social policy.

Mid-Game Warmongers: Bring plenty of Pikemen/Tercios if Poland hasn't gotten to Winged Hussars, they will probably have a large amount of knights but they aren't very special. If they do have Winged Hussars, Poland is untouchable until you have fusiliers, and they are no easy conquest even with them. It might be a good idea to leave them for later if they have Winged Hussars

Late-Game Warmongers: Poland will probably have highly upgraded armor units that have still retained heavy charge, so beating them won't be easy. Air units, Bazookas and helicopter gunships are the best way to fight them

Cultural Players: Despite how fast they get social policies, Poland doesn't actually have much culture, so they shouldn't be a big roadblock to your victory

Scientific Players: Once you get around the late medieval era you'll want to rush to fusiliers, the earlier you get them the less chance Poland has to pummel you.

Diplomatic Players: Standard anti-warmonger tactics apply, but other then that there isn't much you can do.

These guide cover every civ in the game, and can be used as a quick reference

• Civ Summaries

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