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Is there a chart showing the upgrade paths for the units? Something like

warrior→spearman→pikeman...

for all of the units.

mmyers
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Dan Hook
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    Note: the below charts may now be out of date based on the recent expansions (for example, I believe the Crossbowman now upgrades to the Gatling Gun, which I don't see listed anywhere). – Adam V Dec 31 '13 at 21:03

3 Answers3

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Here, I just made one for you, based on information available from the actual game files.

Click the image to see a larger version!

unit upgrade chart

Notes:

  • This is updated up to the June 2011 patch and DLCs; however, unique units always upgrade in exactly the same way as the units they replace, so if some unique unit is missing from the chart above you can just find out what it replaces to see how it upgrades.
  • Gun units and melee units are not the same - in particular, they differ in some promotions, you can check my promotion chart which uses the same icons.
  • The Giant Death Robot is indeed considered an armor unit.
  • Missiles, bombs and SS parts are non-upgradable (and removed from the chart for brevity).
Community
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Oak
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  • Umm, does that say that a Trireme upgrades to a pikeman? – bwarner Sep 27 '10 at 18:04
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    Interesting to note -- a warrior who visits ruins and gets "more advanced weapons" will in fact turn into a spearman, not a swordsman. – Raven Dreamer Sep 28 '10 at 17:18
  • @Raven that is interesting. I'm guessing they want to keep the units on the same era, to prevent it being overpowered. – Oak Sep 28 '10 at 17:21
  • I'm really surprised that there are so few units, or are these only the units with upgrade paths? – C. Ross Sep 28 '10 at 19:15
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    Another note on ruins upgrades - a scout upgraded into an archer can get a second upgrade from ruins and turn into a crossbowman. So @Oak, there's apparently no restriction on era. – Larry Wang Sep 28 '10 at 20:06
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    @C.Ross - I only listed the units that are part of an upgrade path. My first draft contained all the units in the game, but it was needlessly long and not really relevant to the question. – Oak Sep 28 '10 at 20:49
  • I kind of wish you could refuse that upgrade - I'd rather usually rather leave my scout as a scout! – therefromhere Oct 01 '10 at 12:34
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    @therefromhere a scout being upgraded to an archer still retains its special movement ability, so there's no downside. And an archer can be really powerful in the early game. – Oak Oct 01 '10 at 15:31
  • This is great! There's also Ironclad->Battleship, Atomic Bomb->Nuclear Missile, Submarine->Nuclear Submarine, and Bomber->Stealth Bomber – GoatRider Oct 08 '10 at 17:48
  • @GoatRider I'm afraid you are incorrect, those upgrades do not exist in civ5. – Oak Oct 08 '10 at 19:56
  • Hmm, I was going by what's in the BradyGames strat guide. I just made a new chart, I'll take those links out if I've got it wrong. – GoatRider Oct 11 '10 at 19:58
  • I see what you mean about them not being in the Civilopedia. I don't have any games saved to test it out at the moment, but I'm more inclined to agree with that than the strat guide which was written before the game was done. – GoatRider Oct 11 '10 at 20:30
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    @GoatRider I personally tested that the submarine, ironclad and bomber do not upgrade. – Oak Oct 11 '10 at 22:42
  • @Oak -- Lancers now update to Helicoptor Gunships (12/15 patch) – Raven Dreamer Dec 15 '10 at 17:37
  • @Raven already pre-made the new chart >:-) – Oak Dec 15 '10 at 17:47
  • @Oak Damn. That's quite a visual upgrade. – Raven Dreamer Dec 15 '10 at 17:52
  • @Raven to be honest, I envied GoatRider's. His still looks way better, with the bigger font. And his arrows are more pronounced. Maybe I'll upload something nicer later. – Oak Dec 15 '10 at 17:53
  • @Oak maybe include the Babylonian units in there as well. As far as I can tell, they're missing. – Raven Dreamer Dec 15 '10 at 17:58
  • @Raven I've updated the chart. I don't have the Babylonian DLC, but if you can point me to some online website detailing all civilizations then I'll add them - though I think I'll wait for tomorrow, when the two additional civilizations will be published. – Oak Dec 15 '10 at 18:15
  • @Oak Two additional civilizations are being published tomorrow? (Man, I have been outta the Civ loop). And it looks much better with the larger font. Good work. – Raven Dreamer Dec 15 '10 at 18:39
  • @Oak just wondering what software did you use to make that gorgeous chart? – Zhanger Jun 14 '13 at 19:34
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    @Zhanger it was hand-made with Dia. For the expansion I got lazy and just used dot. – Oak Jun 14 '13 at 19:47
  • Both these charts are wrong, you can upgrade pikeman to lancer if you research that first. –  Dec 31 '13 at 20:11
  • @user65478 there's a more up-to-date chart in my answer to the Brave New World question. – Oak Dec 31 '13 at 22:04
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Here's a better chart I just made, showing the era each unit is in. Civ-5 unit upgrades

PDF version mirror

a cat
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GoatRider
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    Wait, is the Giant Death Robot real? – David Fullerton Oct 11 '10 at 22:22
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    @David Oh yeah, and they're strong! >:-D Very weak on the defense though, can be taken out rather easily. BTW, they're basically mechs, "giant death robot" sounds like too much, IMO. – deceze Oct 11 '10 at 22:34
  • Man this looks great, what program did you use? Or is it hand-crafted? – Oak Oct 12 '10 at 06:48
  • Thanks! I used ConceptDraw on the Mac. I think it's available on PC too. – GoatRider Oct 12 '10 at 10:09
  • Forgot Great War Bomber -> Bomber -> Stealth Bomber. Worth noting that that final upgrade loses the ability to use Carriers, which can be a huge loss in some maps. – Chris Moschini Feb 10 '14 at 02:39
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The Civilization 5 manual does not have such a chart, and neither is there one in the game like the tech tree. (I do not know if the physical copy of the game comes with any charts.)

However, you can use the Civilpedia to build one. Look up whichever unit you are concerned about. The Civilpedia will show what it upgrades to, which you can click on to get to that unit, and follow that unit in turn.

General trends

  • Units can usually upgrade within their type: Melee to Melee, Range to Ranged, Mounted to Mounted, Siege to Siege... Except that Melee and Ranged eventually upgrade to the same Gunpowder track.
  • Melee is split into (at least?) two upgrade paths: one for the anti-mounted Spearmen->Pikemen, and the other for the general units.
  • I believe missiles do not upgrade?
WillfulWizard
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  • FWIW, I just checked my physical copy of the collector's edition and the poster/chart that came with it does not list the upgrade paths for units. The only thing it has relating to units is the Promotion track for them. – FAE Sep 27 '10 at 17:21
  • Actually it doesn't always make that much sense. Bombers do not upgrade to stealth bombers, and neither do submarines to nuclear submarines. – Oak Sep 28 '10 at 15:46
  • @Oak You keep catching me when I don't fully research the details of Civ 5, and assume they are like the details in Civ 4. I'll just have to stop doing that, in the name of better answers for everyone. – WillfulWizard Sep 28 '10 at 17:19