{"id":1506,"date":"2014-11-15T17:23:34","date_gmt":"2014-11-15T17:23:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kalle-online.net\/blog\/?p=1506"},"modified":"2025-10-24T08:12:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T08:12:19","slug":"civilization-5-renaissance-scenario-strategy-achievement-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kalle-online.net\/blog\/civilization-5-renaissance-scenario-strategy-achievement-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Civilization 5 Into the Renaissance Scenario Strategy and Achievement Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Into the Renaissance Steam Achievements<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Into the Renaissance Scenario for Civilization 5 lasts 200 turns from 1095 AD to 1595 AD. The first 100 turns span 3 years each, whilst the second half of the game progresses in turns of 2 years, totaling in the 500 years it took Europe from the High Middle Ages<\/a> into the Renaissance<\/a>. The Into the Renaissance scenario comes with 12 playable civilizations and 6 mostly challenging Steam Achievements. Read about some of these achievements in this post and get an overview of the Into the Renaissance strategy guides for the harder achievements. Further below you’ll also find general advice on this scenario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before you get cracking on Into the Renaissance Strategy guides, you might want to have a look at the Into the Renaissance Map<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe you already have all scenario specific Steam achievements and want to win the scenario on deity difficulty with all nations? Scroll down and dig through the Into the Renaissance strategy guides for playing on deity difficulty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Renaissance Man<\/h2>\n\n\n
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\"Renaissance<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Unlocked: 12 Sep 2014 @ 9:24pm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Win the Into the Renaissance scenario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the catch-all Steam Achievement for this scenario. You get it with your first victory, regardless the level of difficulty you play(ed) on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mehmet the Conqueror<\/h2>\n\n\n
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\"Mehmet<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Unlocked: 8 Sep 2014 @ 7:40am<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Turks, conquer Istanbul on Deity in the Into the Renaissance scenario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s only one deity achievement<\/strong> for Into the Renaissance. Here’s the guide that will help you through: Into the Renaissance \u2013 Mehmet the Conqueror Steam Achievement Guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Never take our freedom!<\/h2>\n\n\n
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\"Never<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Unlocked: 29 Sep 2014 @ 7:57am<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Win as the Celts on Emperor or above in the Into the Renaissance scenario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second achievement I did. I tried playing on Deity first (two times actually) and failed. Then I did the achievement on Emperor. When I started writing the Never take our Freedom Steam Achievement Guide<\/a> I got motivated to try one last time on Deity difficulty and succeeded!!! So the guide linked concentrates on Deity – what works there, will definitely lead you to victory on Emperor. It also briefly describes the earlier failed attempts and what to do better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reconquista Who?<\/h2>\n\n\n
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\"Reconquista<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Unlocked: 5 Oct 2014 @ 11:42pm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Win as the Almohads on Emperor or above in the Into the Renaissance scenario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did this achievement on Deity difficulty as well. It works and after playing with the Turks and the Celts, knowing the tactics, the dos and don’ts, it wasn’t particularly hard anymore. The essence is: Although it’s tempting and the land is good: Don’t settle Africa! Settle Spain instead and give the Spanish a hell of a fight! Africa will wait for you. Read more about it here: Reconquista Who? Steam Achievement Guide<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richard the Lionheart<\/h2>\n\n\n
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\"Richard<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Unlocked: 18 Oct 2014 @ 7:55pm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As England, conquer Jerusalem on Emperor or above in the Into the Renaissance scenario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This one seems like “Never take our Freedom” in reverse. This time you play England and have to take out the Celts. But it’s much harder! Mainly because you can’t prevent them from surrounding you and need to press on them early, only to conquer Great Britain. Also: It’s not enough to just conquer cities following Islam – it has to be the holy land! It has to be Jerusalem. Of course you can “cheat”, chose a random Europe map and hope for Jerusalem to be where Antwerp or Cologne are, then play on Emperor and make the achievement. But hey: Where’s the challenge? Here’s how I did it on Deity difficulty: Richard the Lionheart Steam Achievement Guide<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Yokes on the Mongols<\/h2>\n\n\n
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\"The<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Unlocked: 2 Nov 2014 @ 3:56pm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Win as Russia on Emperor or above in the Into the Renaissance scenario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woah! The heaviest achievement so far. Even harder than most of the Scramble for Africa achievements. Why? Because even on Emperor, where normally things go easier, this one was incredibly hard! How to get this achievement you can read in the Yokes on the Mongols Steam Achievement Guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Into the Renaissance General Strategy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On things you can’t control<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

With the Into the Renaissance scenario being 200 turns long a lot of things can happen. Some things are just not in your power to influence. There’s a balance of power that can shift in your favor or against. I played this scenario a lot of times and here are my observations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spain and the Pyrenees<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Pyrenees are the strategically important mountain range between Spain<\/a> and France<\/a>. Now if Spain settles at that mountain range and in Southern France, the French can’t access the Iberian peninsula anymore. They’ll send some settlers there nonetheless, but they won’t be powerful there. The entire Iberian peninsula will be Spanish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This makes Spain incredibly powerful: Improving their economy, research etc. They’ll probably have a gigantic fleet, score Exploration Victory Points (VP) and conquer the Almohads (Morocco)<\/a> eventually. Also there’s a chance they’ll be allied with most city states (CS) , preventing Austria from claiming those CS by marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If France settles South of the Pyrenees, they will have longer and more resource intensive wars with Spain. Spain will be less, France will be more powerful. If France gets to have a port at the Mediterranean, they’ll also settle colonies in Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You see: France and Spain rise and fall with control of one pass in the Pyrenees. A weaker or more powerful France or Spain might play for or against you, depending on who you play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Austria and the City States<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Austria has the unique ability to incorporate CS, which they have been allied with for 5 turns. Now if other nations struggle, Austria will do this with more and more cities. This weakens other nations again, as they won’t be able to benefit from the City States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Austria is your direct opponent: That’s bad. In my game with the Turks, I could bribe a powerful Austria against Byzantium – that was a good thing, as many Byzantine troops had been bound in the west, fighting Austria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luther’s Protestant Reformation<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Now about 2\/3 in the game (after build up and when wars and conquest start… the fun part) the Protestant religion is being founded in the City State of Wittenberg<\/a>, Germany, where my girlfriend comes from. It spreads 7 times as fast as other religions and can have a tremendous impact on the game:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve seen games, where Protestantism spread to the Netherlands and France and even converted them: This meant in my Deity game playing the Celts<\/a> I scored many VP capturing Protestant Dutch cities. But it also gives Spain the opportunity to score points by capturing French Protestant cities!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an extreme game I’ve seem Protestantism spread through most of central Europe and even convert Vatican City itself! But then again: If Wittenberg joins Austria by marriage before the reformation, they will relentlessly use inquisitors to stifle the reformation, so the entire continent stays Catholic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Combat and Conquest<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In normal games of Civilization research and technology play a much bigger role than in this scenario. This is both blessing and curse: While more and faster technological research makes warfare more versatile it also means strategy and tactics change frequently, depending on your and your opponents technological level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Into the Renaissance scenario is different: Both Pikemen and Crossbowmen will be the backbone of your military until the end. I always prefer Crossbowman, because they’re no melees and don’t need to move to attack. When the time comes and the economy can support loads of units, I mainly spam these. They also don’t need any resources unlike Longswordsmen or Musketmen or any mounted unit. The bigger empires (the AI!) will always have loads of those, because they’ll have resources in abundance. We have to make due with the little we have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

City capture<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Normally when you capture a city, you’ll want to hold it. In the Into the Renaissance scenario, this might be different, too. If you move your capturing unit out of the city (most mounted units can do so in the same turn as the capture, as they can move after attacking), you might want to let the opponent capture the city again. Here’s why:<\/p>\n\n\n\n