A 4UC Vox Populi Guide: Songhai

These are an updated set of guides for the Vox Populi mod meant to help players learn the details and how to play each civ in the game. Whether new to civ entirely, experienced in civ but new to Vox Populi, or even well experienced with the mod and just looking for a refresher, these guides are designed to be useful to all. These guides were inspired by Zigzagzigal's guides, as they helped me learn a lot about the game when I first started playing it over a decade ago, and I wanted to provide a similar experience for the Vox Populi mod, which has become my go to way to play civ v, and is my favorite strategy game. For those looking for the download for the mod, it can be found here[forums.civfanatics.com]

With that out of the way, onto the Songhai!

Before getting into the specifics of the civ, a few terms that I may be using during this guide will be defined here

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. All Naval and Air units gaining a promotion increasing their strength as they take damage from Imperialism.)
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% GWAM generation, +10% culture generation during golden ages and +100% construction of guilds in Artistry)
Scaling with Era - Any trait scaling with era will double in the medieval era, then increase by the same amount every era afterwards (For example, a +1 bonus scaling with era would increase to +2 in the medieval, +3 in the renaissance, etc. until a max of +7 in the information era)
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.
UGP - Unique Great Person - A replacement for a great person that only one civilization can generate
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.
WLTKD - We love the king day.
XP - Experience Points - Get enough and you'll level up your unit, giving you the ability to heal your unit or get a promotion.
ZOC - Stands for "Zone of Control" which is the effect that causes units to use all their movement if they move from a space adjacent to an enemy unit to another space still adjacent to that same unit

Songhai has a river start bias. This is perfect for their UA, and should hopefully lead to both better cities and easier early military engagement.
Triple from destroying encampments and conquering cities

Land units ignore combat penalties from rivers, ignore movement penalties from crossing rivers, and get double movement when moving along rivers

A mounted melee unit

Positive One-Off Changes

• Higher combat strength (25 instead of 24)
  
• No city attack penalty
  
• Obsoletes at Combustion rather than Metallurgy

Positive Stay on Upgrade Changes

• +20% flanking bonus. Steal gold equal to 50% of the damage dealt when attacking cities, capped at 10x city strength. Can use enemy roads/railroads(Raider)

A ranged unit

Positive One-Off Changes

• Higher ranged combat strength (20 instead of 19)
  
• Obsoletes at Dynamite rather than Metallurgy

Positive Stay on Upgrade Changes

• +15% combat strength against mounted units(Father of the Horse)
  
• +5hp when healing for units on or adjacent to this tile(Medic I)

Positive Changes

• +1
  
• Can be built in any city
  
• +10% towards buildings in this city
  
• +1 to all river tiles in the city

Positive Changes

• +2 +2 & +2 (Up from +1)
  
• +1 to luxury resource tiles
  
• +75% range for land trade routes(Up from 50%)
  
• +2 to international trade routes targeting this city
  
• +2 to origin city of international trade routes targeting this city
  
• If an active trade route is connected to or passing through the city, +2 +2 & +2

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


Songhai has quite a strong military presence, especially when fighting around rivers, and especially in the medieval era due to both of their UUs. It is a bit stronger offensively then defensively however
Both of Songhai's UBs give a little bit of culture, enough especially considering how early they are for a small advantage, but one that does not translate to tourism
Songhai also lacks any advantage to science, but once again due to their UBs they have very strong production
Songhai also has the potential for some of the highest gold generation of any civ from their UA, and a still somewhat reliable gold trade base from their Gumeys. They do lack any diplomatic bonus however
Songhai may lack any religious bonuses, but due to their strong gold and infrastructure can balance early war with some religious investment if they choose.

All Songhai land units start with the Sewn Canoes promotion, which gives two important bonuses The first of which lets you ignore all the terrain and combat penalties from rivers. You should if at all possible fight opponents from the opposite side of a river. It will impose penalties on their melee units trying to attack you, and make it more difficult for them to advance to attack your ranged units.

The world's first highway

War Canoes on the other hand gives your units double movement when moving along rivers. The along is very specific here. You need to start your turn adjacent to a river, and move along the tiles of the same river without crossing it. The pathing system also sometimes doesn't consider the faster movement from this when you don't start next to a river, so if you need a unit somewhere asap keep an eye on their path.

Funny to think that at the start of the game barbarians have more money then most major civs.

Songhai gets triple gold from taking out barbarian camps and from conquering cities. Early game 150 gold is a massive amount of money, almost enough to buy a worker, and more then enough to buy a military unit. Songhai wants to seek out barbarian camps more aggressively then any other authority civs, even more then The Aztecs in my opinion. They can use this to either support their early expansion and growth, or buy out a large army for an early invasion

This was a new city, so even tripled it isn't a lot of gold, but 57 still isn't nothing this early

Later on, the bulk of your gold is going to be from conquest. While not nothing, the gold from city conquest usually isn't something to consider, but for Songhai it can be an absolutely massive amount of gold.

River go brrrr. You know, cause it's the tundra

The Tabya gives all river tiles +1 production. So not only do you have military advantages to fighting around rivers, you also have good reason to settle them for yourself. Given how early the Tabya is this is a massive production boost.

Even if you don't have good rivers to settle, Tabya's give other great benefits, most notable is a flat 10% production boost to all buildings. The other thing that is nice for the Tabya is simply the fact it is a stone works you can build in every city, which most beneficially means you can send internal production trade from every city much earlier then other civs.

See the 4 production, 5.5 gold, and 4 culture

The Gumey gives very strong base yields, which are doubled if any trade route passes through the city. Of course you can guarantee this by sending trade routes yourself, but any trade routes sent to you also trigger this bonus. Given how much you will likely be at war as Songhai though, I might actually recommend sending more internal then international routes. Your UA should be able to make up any gold deficits from trade, and internal routes guarantee at least two of your cities are getting the boost from one route, likely more if you have roads up properly between your cities.

That's a luxury truffle alright

The Gumey also gives all luxuries +1 gold. Not massive in and of itself but just enough to help keep your economy afloat between wars

This is where the fun begins

Mandekalu Cavalry are Songhai's true power unit, and where their domination potential really comes into play. The biggest factor to their power is the Raider promotion

This Mandekalu Cavalry has Shock II

The biggest thing that raider gives is a 20% boost to flanking. This is the equivalent of two extra units flanking. Get at least one other unit adjacent to the enemy and the Mandekalu Cavalry will be hitting significantly harder. But that's not all!

Why wait to conquer the city to plunder it?

The other two parts of Raider are that it lets you use enemy roads/railroads, and you gain gold from attacking a city. This gives Mandekalu Cavalry a truly stupid amount of mobility, combined with the UA it is almost impossible to catch a Mandekalu cavalry as they can use roads and rivers to massively increase their movement. Normally, mounted units are really bad at attacking cities, so the gold from city attack may seem useless, but the Mandekalu Cavalry doesn't have a city attack penalty, so they're about as good as a regular melee unit for the job. Just like regular melee units though, they can't take an up to date city on its own though, you will still need to bring ranged/siege support to actually take a city.

• +20% flanking bonus. Steal gold equal to 50% of the damage dealt when attacking cities, capped at 10x city strength. Can use enemy roads/railroads(Raider)

When upgraded to lancers Mandekalu Cavalry do regain the city attack penalty, however I wouldn't use this as a reason to delay upgrading, the strength increase still means they are about equal with Mandekalu Cavalry attacking cities, while being stronger defensively and better in all other offensive situations.

The American backed city state advances through the harsh tundra and mountains. The Sofa stands ready to defend

While not providing the raw power of the Mandekalu Cavalry, the Sofa is an excellent supportive complement to the Songhai army. The most important part of the unit is starting with Medic I, giving nearby units extra healing. Since they start with Medic I, if built in a city with even a barracks they can immediately upgrade to Medic II, giving all nearby units +10 hp when healing, and the Sofa itself +15hp of healing. This allows Songhai to either much more easily hold the front when sieging a city, or an easy fall back point for faster healing to get units back to the fight quicker.

The other small benefit is that the Sofa gets 15% extra strength against mounted units. I wouldn't say this quite makes them a counter to mounted units, if one gets in to attack them the Sofa will still lose on its own, but with a proper front line they can help chunk them down a bit easier.

Miami is a proper fortress city, but the healing makes the army able to keep the pressure up easier

• +15% combat strength against mounted units(Father of the Horse)
  
• +5hp when healing for units on or adjacent to this tile(Medic I)

Songhai takes the standard warmonger route of Authority into Fealty and finishing with Imperialism. While Songhai may have somewhat of an inclination towards trade thanks to the Gumey, it doesn't necessarily scale by having increased trade capacity, so Statecraft and Industry don't hold enough appeal over their competition

Opener: Culture and science from kills is real nice, and the extra combat strength against barbs is going to make getting your early gold way easier

Imperium: Some nice yields from border growth, and more importantly a lot of yields from city conquest, of which you'll be doing a lot of.

Tribute: A free Settler is nice, lets you expand while still working on your military/infrastructure to build your military

Militarism: Songhai hypothetically has a great early economy, but one that requires a lot of active push, so this makes sure you can actually afford your military you need to get your economy moving

Dominance: Further army benefits to keep the money train going

Honor: Extra strength and extra units. Everything a warmonger could want

Finisher: Some purchasable melee units that are good at attacking cities? Sure why not!

Opener: You aren't necessarily doing a ton with faith, might as well get a decent building from it

Nobility: Faster production towards arguably the two most important medieval buildings for a warmonger? Yes please

Fiefdoms: Songhai tends towards internal trade a bit more then most, this makes those routes a fair bit better

Serfdom: Given both your UBs improve tiles you'll probably have quite a lot of non-specialists, so this should be a decent amount of culture and faith

Divine Right: You're bound to have quite a large military, so this is a little bit of extra happiness. Plus the extra border growth is nice paired with Authority

Organized Religion: If/Once you can get a religion properly set up, this will help keep it going

Finisher: A nice bit of yields in all your cities assuming you've got your majority religion well spread.

Opener: The extra great general movement is huge, plus you can't complain about cheaper units

Regimental System: Generals are important, and this makes them even better at boosting your army (and navy for admirals)

Civilizing Mission: You'll be doing lots of conquering, this just makes those cities you get this late actually useful.

Exploitation: You've already got some solid tile boosts, this makes them even better

Colonialism: Yields from buildings you want, and extra bonuses from monopolies you probably have. Very nice

Martial Law: Happiness could be a fairly big problem at this point in the game, and this is potentially a lot.

Finisher: While quite strong on land, your navy and air force are relatively generic, so this helps a decent bit with that.

Unsurprisingly, Songhai works best with Autocracy

Lebensraum: You're likely still conquering and potentially razing a lot of cities, this makes that less of an opportunity cost of land. The border expansion and citadel bonuses are very good as well

Elite Forces: Better new troops, better old troops, better army

Military Industrial Complex: One of Songhai's biggest weaknesses is a lack of science, so this should help at least a little

Lightning Warfare: Better armor units is a big deal for Songhai. In general this makes for a much stronger army

Martial Spirit: Somewhat timing based, but if you get this policy at the right time you can easily win the game by the time the combat boost expires

Air Supremacy: Lets you get out your air force much faster, along with the strong Zero allowing you to have a lot of fighters without oil

Terrain/resource specific pantheons are not listed here unless they have some other synergy with a civ's uniques, however they can often be a great choice if the terrain/resources you start with favors them

God of War: You'll be killing plenty of units, a great choice for any warmonger

Goddess of Purity: You're likely to have a lot of cities on rivers as Songhai. An extra good choice if you've got some lakes too.

Hero Worship: Unsurprisingly, a great choice for a civ that wants to do a lot of conquest

Council of Elders: If you can't get Hero Worship, this is a decent backup to give Songhai some science

Teocallis: An amazing boost to your army

Orders: Similar to Teocallis, incredible if you can manage to snag both

Zealotry: Extra strategics is excellent for any warmonger, but for Songhai in particular it allows you to ensure you can build all the Mandekalu Cavalry you need
Crusader Spirit: The best reformation for any domination game

Defender of the Faith: A good backup to Crusader Spirit if someone gets it first

Statue of Zeus: Songhai wants to capture cities, this makes capturing cities easier. A no brainer to try and nab

Petra: Songhai does benefit a fair bit from early trade, this lets you get out a lot more of it

Great Wall: A free general, but more importantly you having this means no one else does.

Oracle: Almost a free tech and policy. Pretty much any civ benefits from Oracle

Alhambra(Authority Only): A big boost to your core unit. A must have for Songhai
Red Fort(Fealty Only): A nice defensive boost for a city near the edge of your empire
Brandenburg Gate: A big boost to your supply, and even more unit xp to go around
Prora(Autocracy Only): A free policy plus some happiness. Very good
Pentagon(Imperialism Only): Makes sure that you have the dominant air force
CERN: Two free techs to finish out the tech tree. Not bad for anyone

On paper Songhai doesn't have the most complicated bonuses, but almost all of them require active use and planning to get the most or even anything out of them. Songhai doesn't do well with playing passively

Songhai is going to want to conquer a lot of cities. However, while they do have a solid infrastructure, they still lack much to help with happiness. Don't be afraid to puppet or even moreso raze cities. You can only afford to maintain so many.
Mandekalu Cavalry are Songhai's biggest military strength, allowing them to really get the snowball rolling. But if you don't settle horses, you can't build them and lack the punch you need in the medieval era to start dominating the world. Find and settle early horses as quickly as possible
It is easy to fall into standard army habits and try to avoid fighting over rivers, but that is where Songhai thrives. If you have a river nearby do everything in your power to force the enemy to be attacking over it
For every civ settling on rivers is usually a good idea but for Songhai it is doubly so. River tiles give huge yields for Songhai, especially early
Mandekalu Cavalry may be your premier unit, but even lacking a city penalty they still can't take a city by themselves unless the city is behind on it's defensive buildings. To truly conquer you will need support from ranged and siege.

Songhai has a strong, snowball economy backed by strong infrastructure and a powerful medieval army. As with any snowball though, the key is to stop it from rolling in the first place

Songhai is strongest when fighting near rivers. Do your best to fight them away from rivers if at all possible. If you do need to do so however, keep a melee unit on defense to prevent them from crossing, and attack them from range. Consider upgrading units of your own with Amphibious to even the odds.

As for the gold they can get, early game if you happen to be near a barbarian camp they are trying to take down, see if you can sneak in and steal it from them, it will have a bigger effect on them than most civs. While general advice against any warmonger, stopping Songhai from taking a city is doubly important. Be careful settling poorly defensible cities near Songhai, especially ones on rivers. If they get even one decent city they can start snowballing with a huge amount of money to pump into their army.

The simple answer to countering Tabyas is to simply prevent Songhai from settling on rivers, however that is easier said then done, because if you settle the rivers Songhai can conquer you much more easily. If you can cut Songhai off from rivers without the city itself being on a river however, definitely do that, it will cripple both their infrastructure and their ability to war
Gumey's benefit most when there is a lot of trade routes going through Songhai lands, so if at all possible pillaging one of their routes or a route from someone else sending in a trade route can hurt them a fair bit.
Mandekalu Cavalry are easily Songhai's strongest unit. Fast, strong, and even good against cities. There is little in the Medieval era that will stand up well to a Mandekalu Cavalry. Your best option is probably knights or heavy skirmishers of your own, as they can often attack from an angle where Mandekalu Cavalry aren't getting a flanking bonus. Tercios fair much better against them if you can get to them before being overrun. Your best option however, is to stop Songhai from getting enough horses to build up many Mandekalu Cavalry in the first place. I'm just surprised this is my only furniture related joke about Sofas tbh

Sofas are much more of a supportive unit then a powerful offensive one. Despite having a solid combat bonus against mounted units, I would still say mounted units make a good counter to them, not only dealing a lot of damage but being able to chase them down, even along rivers. Do your best to take out Sofas first if you can, as just their mere presence makes it more difficult to take out the rest of the Songhai army.

Early Game Warmongers: Steal as many barbarian camps as you can, and avoid fighting by rivers if possible, and this should be the easiest time to fight Songhai

Mid Game Warmongers: By contrast, the hardest time to fight Songhai. Mounted units of you own should do decently well. Make sure you have proper defenses in all of your cities, or a Mandekalu Cavalry could easily slip in and take out a weak city on its own.

Late Game Warmongers: Taking out upgraded Mandekalu Cavalry will stump Songhai's military potential. Attack from the sea and the air if possible, as Songhai's river bonuses are irrelevant there.

Scientific Players: Songhai lacks any science, so use your bonuses to stay ahead of them militarily and defensively. Getting to Tercios is especially important

Diplomatic Players: Global Peace Accords won't actually help very much if Songhai is already snowballing, but it can assure they can't get it going if they haven't been doing incredibly. A sanction isn't quite as effective as you may think either as Songhai can do internal trade fairly well too.

Cultural Players: Use whatever defensive advantages you can muster, as well as the tips above. If Songhai can't conquer you, they should otherwise prove no real direct competition

• Arabia (Culture/Science)
  
• The Huns (Domination)
  
• The Inca (Science/Domination)
  
• Korea (Science)
  
• The Netherlands (Diplomacy/Domination/Culture)
  
• Portugal (Science/Diplomacy)
  
• Russia (Domination/Science)
  
• Siam (Diplomacy/Science/Culture)
  
• Sweden (Domination/Diplomacy)