[Top 10] Best Civ 5 Mods For a New Experience

Updated:

23 Jul 2020

Have you ever spent days on end locked in your room, not responding to calls, cancelling all your appointments, promising yourself you’ll take a break after just one more turn? If you’ve spent as many hours in Sid Meier’s Civilization V as I have, then you may be ready to shake things up a bit.

There are numerous fun mods available for Civilization V, adding new content to the game and offering a fresh challenge for experienced players. This list will give you the top 10 mods compatible with Civilization V Brave New World edition.

10. Quick Turns

Choose the animations you want to see between turns and skip the rest

This mod cuts down on waiting time between turns. Now, I thought the turn length was pretty short in Civ V. Then again, I was brought up on Civ 3 where you had to watch over twenty automated workers jog around the map before each turn. Granted you could skip, but that would just crash the game. If you’re having similar problems, and are sick of waiting 5 minutes between every turn, then this is the mod for you.

How Quick Turns makes the game more fun

This mod is does exactly what it says on the tin. It offers various options to reduce the time between turns.
You can cut down on your waiting time by skipping AI movement and combat animations.
This mod will really help in the late game, when there more units on screen and more animations between turns.

Get this mod here.

9. Strange Religions

Nike Philosophy ticks the box for strangest faith I've heard of

Bored of the conventional religions? Civilization 5 has only a handful of available faiths to choose from and even Zoroastrianism can get stale after a while. This mod will allow you to make your citizens Pasta-farians, members of the Illuminati, or even Cthulhu cultists.

How Strange Religions makes the game more fun

You could already customize the name of your religion in the base game. But renaming Christianity to satanism loses some of its hysterical irreverence when you still have a Christian cross next to all your cities.
Make your joke religions that little bit more official with an array of religious icons to choose from.
The mod includes 40 new religions including, the Assassin’s Creed faith, Nike philosophy, Jediism and many more.

Get this mod here.

8. Eras Collection

Ever wanted to just stay in the medieval era?

Starting a war in the ancient and classical eras is nearly impossible, unless you pick the Aztecs or the Huns. By the time you have improved all your resources and built your army, the AI has often moved onto the medieval era without you. This mod lets you play a whole game locked in the era of your choosing, so now you can enjoy your favourite units for more than just a few turns.

How Eras Collection makes the game more fun

This collection of mods will allow you lock your game in a specific era.
With future eras blocked off you can better appreciate each era’s unique brand of warfare without worrying about your units becoming obsolete.
This mod will enable easier warfare in the ancient and classical era. This will help you make the most of Civs with unique units in these eras.

Get this mod here.

7. NQmod

Experience a completely rebalanced game of Civ 5

This mod comes highly recommended on all the Civilization forums. Despite that, it took me a very long time to find out what it actually does. So, to save you the hassle, the NQ mod or No Quitters mod, attempts to balance the game for multiplayer by reconfiguring the social policy and technology trees. If you enjoy playing Civilization V multiplayer, you’ll appreciate this rebalanced version of the game, with more than one path to victory.

How NQmod makes the game more fun

The mod alters the social policy trees to make all the policies balanced.
Whereas in the base game Tradition is overpowered, the NQ mod makes Liberty, Honour, and Piety strong enough to be competitively viable.
The mod also tinkers with technologies and units, nerfing some while buffing others, to make nearly any civilization possible in competitive multiplayer.

Get this mod here.

6. More Luxuries

Finally I can have plenty of olive oil for when I play as Greece

I didn’t think much of this mod when I first saw it. But after downloading and playing a few turns, I think it adds a lot to the games diplomacy. This mod offers a range of new luxury resources including olives, lapis lazuli and tobacco. The way this mod distributes the resources is what makes it great, encouraging diplomacy and trade by ensuring you have something your opponents don’t.

How More Luxuries makes the game more fun

The mod introduces nine new luxury resources to the game. The increased variety helps maintain an empires happiness.
The new luxuries are balanced so that there will only be one or two spawns of any particular luxury in the whole world.
The fact that each luxury is rare, increases the opportunities for trading with the AI and, as such, can make diplomacy much more interesting than in the regular game.

Get this mod here.

5. Health & Plagues

The mod offers a healthy challenge for experienced players.

Civilization 4 used to have health and disease mechanics for limiting a city’s population. This sick mod brings these mechanics to Civ V but with the welcome addition of plagues that can spread from city to city.

How Health & Plagues makes the game more fun

This mod adds a health yield to the game. This health yield is converted into extra food, contributing to city growth.
With bonus food for healthy citizens, comes the risk of plagues. Plagues start in cities with low health and can quickly spread along trade routes, roads and sea connections.
This presents an interesting new challenge, as players try to maximise their health to get bonus food, while being on the look out for potential plague outbreaks both at home and abroad.

Get this mod here.

4. Prehistoric Era Reborn

Discover fire, saber tooth tigers, and even giants as you explore Earths antediluvian history

As I said earlier, starting a war in the ancient and classical era rarely happens because you spend so much time setting up your civilization for the rest of the game. That isn’t the case when you start the game in 20,000 BC. The prehistoric era mod creates a whole new epoch for the start of the game where you fend for yourself against the forces of nature and other groups of nomads.

How Prehistoric Era Reborn makes the game more fun

Get over 300 turns worth of new content with new units, wonders and technologies. Experience a radically different game of Civ V, as you explore the world before your first settler.
The longer opening to the game will allow you make more out of the ancient and classical eras.
This mod is great for players seeking an extra challenge as you learn how to survive against wild animals and other primordial enemies.

Get this mod here.

3. The Elder Scrolls Civilization V Pack

Finally you can experience Tamriel as something other than an ex convict

Elder Scrolls fans will love this mods detailed reconstruction of their favourite fantasy series in the Civilization V engine. Play as any of your favourite factions from the game, including Mehrunes Dagon, and see if you’ve got what it takes to become the Emperor of Tamriel. I’m guessing the game ends with you getting assassinated at the beginning of Oblivion.

How the mod makes the game more fun

This mod offers a complete remake of the game, with 13 playable civilizations, new technologies, wonders, religions and more.
Enjoy the world of Tamriel from a whole new perspective, as you command armies of Argonians and trade commodities like Skooma.
Enjoy a whole new experience, in a total conversion mod that merges the two franchises into a detailed and exciting game.

Get this mod here.

2. R.E.D modpack

Make your armies look even more impressive with unique costumes and skins

Again, Civilization 4 Beyond the Sword already had unit variation and this mod pack brings it to Civilization 5 as well. Are you tired of all the warriors looking the same, whether they’re from Rome or Ethiopia? Then check out this mod pack and enjoy a variety of different units from around the globe.

How R.E.D makes the game more fun

You can get a complete reskin of the game’s units, covering various ethnicities and historical costumes.
The added variation gives each civ a unique look. This mod is a must for anyone seeking greater historical realism.

Get this mod here.

1. YnAEMP

This mod offers the most accurate world map you'll find in any Civ game

Speaking of historical realism, the Yet (not) Another Earth Maps Pack is a collection of mods that will offer you the most realistic game of Civilization V ever. Meticulously detailed with historical spawn dates, true starting locations and realistic resource placement; this mod pack offers a bigger, better game of Civilization than any you’ve played before.

How YnAEMP makes the game more fun

Play with all 43 civs on a detailed recreation of planet earth.
This mod introduces historical spawn dates. This means all the civilizations don’t start the game at the same time but are delayed until the date at which their real-life nations first emerged.
Enjoy a challenge like no other, as you battle for supremacy against 42 other civilizations. Good luck domination players.

Get this mod here.

Mods are a great way to enhance your experience of Civilization V. They can add new challenges, improve existing features or even just add joke features for a laugh. All the above mods are compatible with the Brave New Worlds expansion pack so, if you’re a veteran civ player, then try shaking things up with a few of these exciting mods.