To spread your Civilization 6 Religion of choice, the first thing you'll need to do is acquire Faith. In fact, you'll need to continuously be acquiring large amounts of Faith throughout the course of your playthrough if you want to successfully achieve a Religious Victory, as you'll likely be spending it relentlessly on new Apostles and Missionaries to help spread the good news.
Here, we'll be taking you through all of the important mechanics surrounding Religion, Faith, Pantheons, beliefs, and more in Civilization 6, which should serve as some pretty comprehensive prep and companion detail for our dedicated Civ 6 Religious Victory guide.
If you're looking for more resource-focused Civ 6 guides, meanwhile, we also have pages on how to earn Science, how to earn Gold, and how to earn Culture and Tourism in Civ 6, too.
A quick note: we've refreshed out Civ 6 guides for the game's launch on Nintendo Switch, but just be aware that they contain information regarding the Rise and Fall DLC as well as the base game, which means some things only apply if you have that DLC! Otherwise.. crack on!
How does Religion work in Civilization 6? How to found Pantheons and Religions
Fortunately for returning players, Religion works in largely the same manner in Civ 6 as it does with Civ 5. Faith - the religious 'resource' - is acquired per-turn according to various sources of income and their modifiers, which can then be spent on units such as Apostles and Missionaries, religious buildings such as the Wat, Great People, or even military units - if you've committed to the Theocracy Government.
For those uninitiated to the ways of Civilization however - or anyone returning after a little break - opening up that Religious beliefs menu for the first time to see a whole screen of percentages and bonuses can be paralyzing, so below we've quickly broken down, in simple terms, how Religion and Faith work in Civ 6.
- Religion is both a victory condition and a general benefit - Just like Culture or Science, Religion can play a role of varying importance in your Civ 6 playthrough, and is by no means only something to think about when going for the Religious Victory. Numerous benefits, from military bonuses to increased Production or Great Person generation, can be extracted from a strong Religion in Civ 6, regardless of your situation.
- The first thing you'll do is found a Pantheon - Like a mini pre-Religion, Pantheons offer long-term benefits from their respective beliefs. To found one, you'll need to amass 16 Faith, at which point you'll be prompted to make your choice of belief.
- A Religion is then founded when you acquire a Great Prophet - Great Prophets, one of the many types of Great People in Civ 6, are earned when you have accrued enough Great Person points of that type. Those are earned from various buildings and wonders, such as your Holy Site and it's buildings. A Great Prophet can also be acquired by completing the Stonehenge Wonder.
- With a Religion foudned, you can then go about adding new beliefs - Once founded, all cities in your civ with a Holy Site will convert to your new Religion. New Beliefs can be added to your Religion by using the Apostle's Evangelize Belief action, up to a total of four, plus your Pantheon belief - when you first found the Religion, you'll need to choose a Follower belief plus one more from the three other types.
There are a total of four types of Religious Beliefs in Civ 6:
- Follower Beliefs - Provide some kind of yield or other inherent bonus, such as the +1% Production for each follower bonus provided by the Work Ethic Follower belief.
- Founder Beliefs - Founder beliefs provide a bonus that relies on the number of followers that Religion has. Note that Followers can be in any city, regardless of whether that Religion is the predominant one there, and that Founder beliefs apply only to the Civ which founded this Religion.
- Worship Beliefs - Worship beliefs grant a unique worship building that can be built in Holy Sites with Production, or puchased there with Faith, with each Worship building having a different benefit.
- Enhancer Beliefs - Enhancer beliefs are angled towards spreading your Religion by making religious pressure stronger or Missionaries and Apostles cheaper.
How to earn Faith in Civilization 6
Whilst there are plenty more religious beliefs and related features than we've listed below, one of the key aspects of a religious playthrough - and of course a targeted Religious Victory - is the process of earning Faith. Rather than simply listing all things related to Religion then, we've decided to assemble a complete list of all of the ways you can earn Faith and increase the rate at which you do so in Civ 6.
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Amenities
- +5% Non-food yields (which includes Science) when the city is happy (has more Amenities than required).
Wonders
- Hagia Sofia - Missionaries and Apostles can spread Religion 1 extra time. +4 Faith.
- Mahabodhi Temple - Grants 2 Apostles. +4 Faith.
- Mont St. Michel - All Apostles you create gain the Martyr ability in addition to a second ability you chose normally. +2 Faith; +2 Relic slots.
- Oracle - Patronage of Great People costs 25% less Faith. Districts in this city provide +2 Great Person points of their type. +1 Faith; +1 Culture.
- Potala Palace - +3 Faith, +3 Culture and +1 Diplomatic policy slot.
- Stonehenge - Grants a free Great Prophet. Great Prophets may found a Religion on Stonehenge instead of a Holy Site. +2 Faith.
- Holy Site Prayers - District-based project which provides Faith and Great Prophet points on completion.
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- God King - +1 Faith and +1 Gold in the Capital
- Scripture - +100% Holy Site adjacency bonuses
- Simultaneum - Doubles Faith yield from holy Site district buildings
- Triangular Trade - +4 Gold and +1 Faith from all Trade Routes
- Raj - +2 Science, Culture, Faith, and Gold from each city-state you are Suzerain of.
- Revelation - +2 Great Prophet points per turn
Natural wonders
- Crater Lake - +4 Faith; +1 Science; Fresh Water.
- Dead Sea - +2 Faith; +2 Culture; Fresh Water. Units heal completely if they heal for one turn adjacent to the Dead Sea.
- Mount Everest - +1 Faith to adjacent tiles. Missionaries, Inquisitors, and Apostles who move next to Mount Everest ignore Hills for the rest of the game.
- Uluru - +2 Faith, +2 Culture and +4 Appeal to all adjacent tiles
City-states
- Jerusalem - 1 Envoy: +2 Faith in Capital. 3 Envoys: +2 Faith in every Holy Site district. 6 Envoys: Additional +2 Faith in every Holy Site district. Suzerain Bonus: Automatically converts to the Religion you founded, and exerts pressure for that Religion as if it were a Holy City.
- Kandy - 1 Envoy: +2 Faith in Capital. 3 Envoys: +2 Faith in every Holy Site district. 6 Envoys: Additional +2 Faith in every Holy Site district. Suzerain Bonus: Receive a Relic every time you discover a new natural wonder, and earn +50% Faith from all Relics.
- La Venta - 1 Envoy: +2 Faith in Capital. 3 Envoys: +2 Faith in every Holy Site district. 6 Envoys: Additional +2 Faith in every Holy Site district. Suzerain Bonus: Your Builders can now make Colossal Head improvements.
- Yerevan - 1 Envoy: +2 Faith in Capital. 3 Envoys: +2 Faith in every Holy Site district. 6 Envoys: Additional +2 Faith in every Holy Site district. Suzerain Bonus: Your Apostle units can choose from any possible promotion instead of receiving a random promotion.
Pantheon Beliefs
- Divine Spark - +1 Great Person point from Holy Site, Campus, and Theatre Square districts.
- Dance of the Aurora - Holy Site districts get +1 Faith from adjacent Tundra tiles.
- Desert Folklore - Holy Site districts get +1 Faith from adjacent Desert tiles.
- Sacred Path - Holy Site districts get +1 Faith from adjacent Rainforest tiles.
- Religious Idols - +2 Faith from Mines over Luxury and Bonus resources.
- Initiation Rites - +50 Faith for each Barbarian Outpost cleared.
- Stone Circles - +2 Faith from Quarries.
- God of War - Bonus Faith equal to 50% of the strength of each enemy unit killed within 8 tiles of a Holy Site district you own.
- Goddess of the Harvest - Harvesting a resource or removing a feature receives Faith equal to the other yield's quantity.
- Earth Goddess - +1 Faith from tiles with Charming or better Appeal.
Follower Beliefs
- Divine Inspiration - All world wonders provide +4 Faith.
- Reliquaries - Relics have triple yield of both Faith and Tourism
Worship Beliefs
- Cathedral - +3 Faith, 1 slot for religious art.
- Gurdwara - +3 Faith, +2 Food
- Meeting House - +3 Faith, +2 Production
- Mosque - +3 Faith, Missionaries and Apostles granted +1 Spread.
- Pagoda - +3 Faith, +1 Housing
- Synagogue - +5 Faith
- Wat - +3 Faith, +2 Science
- Stupa - +3 Faith, +1 Amenity
- Dar-e Mehr - +3 Faith, +1 Faith for each era since constructed or last repaired.
Founder Beliefs
- Lay Ministry - Each Holy Site or Theatre Square district in a city following this Religion provides +1 Faith or +1 Culture respectively.
- Pilgrimage - +2 Faith for every city following this Religion in other civilizations.
Holy Site district
- +1 Great Prophet point per turn.
- +2 Faith from each adjacent natural wonder.
- +1 Faith from each adjacent Mountain.
- +1 Faith from every 2 adjacent Woods tiles.
- +1 Faith from every 2 adjacent district tiles.
- +2 Faith per citizen working this tile.
- +1 Faith from international Trade Routes.
Lavra district (Russia only, replaces Holy Site)
- Your city border grows by one tile each time a Great Person is expended in this city.
- +2 Great Prophet points per turn.
- +1 Great Writer point per turn.
- +1 Great Artist point per turn.
- +1 Great Musician point per turn.
- +2 Faith from each adjacent natural wonder.
- +1 Faith from each adjacent Mountain.
- +1 Faith from every 2 adjacent Woods tiles.
- +1 Faith from every 2 adjacent district tiles.
- +2 Faith per citizen working this tile.
- +1 Faith from international Trade Routes.
If your lust for Civilization 6 knowledge is still going strong, expansion owners should take a look at our Civ 6 Rise and Fall guide hub which takes you through the basics of everything new, whilst we have dedicated pages on Governors and Loyalty, along with how to earn Golden Ages, Era Points and Era Score through Historic Moments, and a full list of new Civs in Civ 6 Rise and Fall and other DLC. Otherwise, our Civilization 6 guide, tips and tricks covers the essentials before you master early game, mid-game and late-game strategies. We also have tips on the new Districts feature, a Leaders list with their Traits and Agendas, plus the best ways to get Gold, Science, and Faith, how to win by Religious Victory, and how to earn the elusive Science Victory and Military domination victory. Finally, here's the Culture Victory, Foreign Tourism, and Domestic Tourism explained in depth.
Buildings and Improvements
- Shrine - Allows the purchasing of Missionaries. +2 Faith, +1 Citizen slot, +1 Great Prophet point per turn.
- Temple - Allows the purchasing of Apostles. +4 Faith, +1 Citizen slot, +1 Great Prophet point per turn, +1 Relic slot.
- Colossal Head - +2 Faith. +1 Faith for every 2 adjacent Rainforest. +1 Faith for every 2 adjacent Woods (tile improvement, if the Suzerain of La Venta).
Unique Buildings and Improvements
- Stave Church - +4 Faith, +1 Citizen slot, +1 Great Prophet point per turn, +1 Relic slot (Norway, replaces Temple).
- Tlachtli - +2 Faith, +1 Amenity from Entertainment, +1 Great General point per turn (Aztec, tile improvement).
- Madrasa - Faith equal to the adjacency Science bonus of its district. +5 Science, +1 Housing, +1 Citizen slot, +1 Great Scientist Point per turn (Arabia, Campus district building replacing University)
- Sphinx - +1 Faith, +1 Appeal, +1 Culture, +2 additional Faith if next to a Wonder (Egypt, tile improvement).
- Stepwell - +1 Faith if placed adjacent to a Holy Site, +1 Food, +1 additional Food if placed next to a Farm, +1 Housing (India, tile improvement).
- Kurgan - +1 Faith, +1 Gold, +1 Faith for each adjacent Pasture (Scythia, tile improvement).
- Mission - +2 Faith, +2 Faith if on a different continent than your Capital city, +2 Science if built next to a Campus, +2 Science with Cultural Heritage Civic (Spain, tile improvement).
Resources
- Dyes - +1 Faith, +4 Amenities
- Incense - +1 Faith, +4 Amenities
- Pearls - +1 Faith, +4 Amenities
- Tobacco - +1 Faith, +4 Amenities
Civilization games are known for their lengthy wars and hexagonal combat. The latest installment is no different, and if you want to get anywhere closer to a domination victory, you’re going to want to go on the offensive and take out other civilizations in your path.
When you build an army, find a rational Cassus Belli and get on down to war. Eventually, you’re going to want to know how to take over enemy cities – the bastions holding you back from conquering all. First, you have to wear down the city’s defenses by peppering it with attacks from your units. Catapults and ranged units will be the best at doing this, as they won’t have to directly fight the defenders inside.
However, you do seriously need melee units, as they are the only combatants capable of actually capturing a city. Always make sure you have one of these so that you can walk in and take it from your opponent when their city runs out of health. Keep up this kind of play and you’ll be on the fast track to a domination victory.
For more Civilization VI help, be sure to check out our wiki!
Started playing Civilization 6 on iOS but having a hard time getting a victory? Check out our beginner's guide of early game strategy with tips for getting choosing districts, research paths and more to carry your people to a victorious win.
Over the holidays, iOS gamers received a pretty spectacular gift, as a full port of Sid Meier's Civilization 6 debuted on iPad. Since its release, we’ve been playing almost nonstop, and still can’t get enough of the world domination goodness. While Civ 6 comes with a decent, basic gameplay tutorial, making it to your first victory may be a bit trickier than it seems. So we decided to put together our own beginner’s guide of strategy and tips you need to know to achieve your first victory. We’ll discuss everything from what it takes to earn a victory to how to place districts, make friends and more.
Civ 6 Beginner’s Guide: Early Game Strategy And Tips For Gaining Your First Victory
Tip #1 - Play Your First Round On A Smaller Map
One thing that makes Civ 6 so amazing is the game’s depth and multifaceted nature. It has been designed multiple playthroughs and players can modify the settings make the game more or less complex. If you haven’t managed to gain a victory yet or are just starting out, we suggest you make things a little easier on yourself until you learn the ropes. You can adjust the setting of a new game by going to Single Player > Create Game. Here you will find several options you can tweak. We suggest selecting Settler or Chieftain as your game difficulty and the tiny map. These tweaks will reduce the size of game map so that there's less to scroll through while also cutting down the number of civilizations you will compete with, making it easier to get resources and find land to settle.
Tip #2 - Understand How To Gain A Victory
One thing the Civ 6 tutorial leaves out are specifics on how to gain a victory. There are actually five different ways you can win in Civ 6, and every civilization will be working to achieve a victory in one of these areas. We have listed them below, but you can also find them by tapping on the gold medal icon in the upper right-hand corner of the game screen. As you are playing, you’ll want to check these victory stats from time to time to see how your opponents are doing and thwart their efforts if needed. For example, in the last game I played, Gandhi was pretty aggressively spreading Hinduism. I kept my borders closed to him so his Missionaries and Apostles could not infiltrate my civilization.
- Science Victory - this requires you to do three tasks before your opponents:
- Launch a satellite
- Land a human on the moon
- Establish a Martian Colony
- Culture Victory - this victory is achieved when you attract more VISITING tourists to your civilization than any other civilization has of DOMESTIC tourists in their civilization. Basically, you need to be the place to see.
- Domination Victory - this victory requires you to conquer the original capital of every other civilization.
- Religious Victory - to achieve this victory, your religion must be the predominant one in every civilization in the game.
- Score Victory - in the case that no civilization meets one of the four goals before 500 turns are up, then each civilization’s combined score in six areas (Civics, Empire, Great People, Religion, Technology, Wonders) are tallied. The civilization with the most points wins.
Tip #3 - Formulate Victory Strategy That Suits Your Leadership
Civ 6 offers 20 different leaders to choose from, each with his or her own specific perks. Make sure to examine these carefully before starting the game so you can use those strengths to reach a victory in a specific area. For example, Cleopatra comes with some great faith, culture and trade perks, while Frederick has excellent military and combat perks. If you are planning to try to win via domination, Gilgamesh would be a better pick over Cleopatra. As you go through the game, your victory strategy might change, but initially, you need to focus on one, so you can plan your research around that.
Tip #4 - Set Up Defense Early
Civ 6 has a feature that shows you “recommended” units to purchase first, but generally speaking, my first production is always a slinger. Each game of Civ 6 is completely new, throwing players in new territories and with different starting opponents or scenarios. While sometimes the game starts pleasantly, with no barbarian interaction for several turns, other times, you’re encountering enemies early on. If you immediately start building stuff, improving squares or start deploying settlers without any defense, it won’t take long for barbarians to find you and destroy the fledgling civilization you’ve put together. In general, my production cycle has been Slinger, Scout, Slinger, Settler. This way, I have a couple guys defending home base while a second slinger goes out with a settler to your new city.
Tip #5 - Take Out Barbarians Right Away
In the early game, if a scout happens upon a barbarian outpost or you see an enemy scout roaming near your city, it’s time to build up your troops and prepare for battle. Just as you are working hard to build your civilization, barbarians are also improving their knowledge of weaponry and building up troops for an ambush. If one of your scouts discovers barbarian outpost, it’s best to eradicate their scouts and troops as quickly as you can and squash the outpost, or they’ll soon become a difficult force to defeat. Always make sure to leave at least one troop at your city center but then send the others out as a group to take down the Barbarians quickly. The slinger comes in handy on these raids, as he can take an enemy out from a short distance. It will earn you an Archery Eureka as well.
Tip #6 - Expand quickly
You may be tempted to spend your early moves making improvements to your home city, but truly, there’s plenty of time for that later. Start claiming territory as quickly as you can! You don’t know what kind of terrain you will end up with (in one game I found myself on an island!) and so you don’t know what expansion opportunities will be available later in the game. You should be mindful to take an archer or other troop with you each time you send a settler out, but grabbing land early plays a big role in your later success.
Tip #7 - Align Your Districts With Your Goals
As you plan your cities, you want to keep in mind the victory type you’re working towards and plan your districts accordingly. For example, if you have the goal of a religious victory, a holy site should be the first district you set up in each city. Each holy site earns you a Great Prophet point every turn, which will help you recruit a prophet to establish your own religion. There are a limited number of each kind of Great People (there are only four Great Prophets), so you’ll want to focus on attracting the right ones before your opponents do. In addition, building districts allow you to build specialty buildings related to that district. For example, an Encampment allows you to build things like barracks, stables and a military academy. To see which districts match which victory goal, you can check this list, here. Certain districts also get perks depending on what they are situated near. Civ 6 does a nice job of showing you areas of land that will provide more points for a district, which makes planning a little easier.
As the population of your city grows, you’ll unlock the ability to add more districts (one for every three citizens).It’s a good idea to build as many of these as you can in a city once you’ve established your main victory goal district. As we mentioned before, sometimes your victory strategy will change or in the end, if no civilization has reached a victory, points from all specialty areas are tallied to reach a winning score.
Tip #8 - Focus Civic & Technology Research On Victory Goals
The first time I played Civ 6 I wasn’t very intentional in my Civics and Technology research. Basically, I just filled them out in order on the tree. Though this isn’t a horrible strategy, it’s better to look carefully at what you’re trying to achieve, then direct your research accordingly. When you open the Civics or Technology tree, you’ll notice each research item has icons underneath. If you press and hold on these icons, an information bubble will appear, letting you know what it unlocks. For example, the Foreign Trade research unlocks traders and trade routes while also allowing you to launch a joint war with another civilization. The further you get in the game, the more you want to look at these carefully before making a choice. You can select a part of your branch that’s several steps down and your game will automatically research the items you need to complete first, without having to select them. If you are working towards a Religious victory, for example, it may be a good idea to select Theology ( three branches in after foreign trade) as a long-term goal on your civics tree, as it unlocks several religious building types and bonuses for Holy Site adjacency. As you get deeper into the game, the choices you make on the tree become more important. In the case of a science victory, for example, there are some very specific paths you need to take if you want to reach the goal of launching satellites and putting a man on the moon.
Tip #9 - Be Careful About Declaring Wars
Unless your goal is world domination, for the most part, you want to avoid military conflicts -- particularly surprise wars. Surprise wars are wars you launch on the spur of the moment. These will activate a warmongering penalty, which often leads to lost allies and friends. The only leader who isn’t subject to warmongering penalties is Gilgamesh. If you must go to war, first denounce the leader, then wait five turns for the Casus Belli option to appear. It’s advisable to have plenty of troops at the ready before heading into any war. If you decide you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to wait 10 war turns and select the option in the diplomacy menu. This is found when you tap on the icon of your opponent in the upper left-hand corner of the game screen. Sometimes they’ll be willing to make peace without a fuss, but other times, you’ll have to give them some of your valuable resources to put an end to it.
Tip #10 - Deploy Diplomats But Be Careful Who You Let In
Once you meet another civilization, a number of Diplomatic options become available to you. In the early stages of the game, these include: sending delegations, arranging trade deals, making friends or opening borders. It’s a good idea to send a delegation as soon as you can to a new civilization since they will feed you information about those civilizations throughout the game. Additionally, declaring friendship where you can also prove helpful, as it provides the option to discuss points of contention. If you are headed down the warpath, you’ll probably want to be more careful about who you befriend, but with most others, it should help, not hurt you.
Meeting other civilizations can come in handy for trading resources. If your treasury is a little low, you can sometimes lend out luxury resources for cash. That said, be very careful when deciding who to give open border access -- particularly later in the game. If you give access to a civilization you are competing within science, they might bring in spies to smuggle away secrets. Meanwhile, opponents with aggressive religious goals may try to convert all your cities before you can get a handle on it, or worse yet, launch a holy war.
With Civilization VI’s first expansion, Rise and Fall, comes a batch of new experiments to conduct with history. India’s new leader, Chandragupta, presents just such a fascinating setup, tailored towards military aggression and early expansion. Quite the change from Gandhi, Civ’s infamous nuclear obsessive.
How his aggressive features match up with India’s existing religious leanings is more curious still. It’s almost enough to warrant some kind of guide that makes sense of it all, isn’t it? If only. Oh, hang on – you won’t believe how coincidental this is, but there appears to be that exact thing below. Wow! Let’s have a read of our Civilization VI Chandragupta guide.
The best strategy games on PC offer plenty more tactical bliss.
- Looking for more general advice? Try our Civilization 6 strategy guide.
- Get to grips with the expansion’s new features with our Civ 6 Rise and Fall guide.
- Prefer the original Indian overlord? See our Civilization 6 Gandhi guide.
- Explore Rise and Fall’s experimental new nation with our Civilization 6 Cree guide.
Chandragupta features
First of all – if ever a Civ leader was destined for the cover of Men’s Health magazine, it is the Mauryan Emperor Chandragupta. Not only did he unify and expand India so far that it reached modern-day Afghanistan, he evidently developed killer traps and lats doing it.
Secondly – and perhaps more pertinently, for the purposes of this guide – Chandragupta brings a very different flavour to India than erstwhile leader Gandhi.
Leader bonus – Arthashastra
Description: Can declare a War of Territorial Expansion after gaining the Military Training Civic. +2 Movement and +5 Combat Strength for the first ten turns after declaring a War of Territorial Expansion.
This is a biggie. Since you can unlock Military Training very early in Civ VI, Arthashastra is about preparing for war almost immediately upon starting a game. Ten turns isn’t all that long to successfully wage war on an enemy and take their capital, so a lot of prior planning is required to make sure you don’t waste any of those turns moving units into position, or – even worse – waiting for them to be built.
A more obvious point still is that there is no point playing as Chandragupta if you are not going to do at least a little invading. India’s bonuses are strong when paired with Gandhi, but a few Stepwells aren’t going to win the game for you if you ignore Chandragupta’s obvious early-game military advantage.
Leader agenda – Maurya Empire
Description: Wants to expand his empire, and dislikes civilisations that have cities close to his borders. Likes civilisations that aren’t close to his borders.
There it is made explicit. Contrary to Gandhi’s leadership, Chandragupta is really all about expanding his empire at all costs, even if that means eating up other leaders’ territory. Waging war early in the game has a bit of a knock-on effect on loyalty, an all-new system at play in this expansion, so you’ll need to plan your city-building and governors accordingly. More on that later.
India features
Varu
This early-game combat unit goes hand-in-hand with Chandragupta’s Arthashastra bonus. With 40 combat strength and 2 movement, it replaces the Horseman at a higher production cost of 120 vs. 80, and reduced movement. However, adjacent units receive -5 combat strength from the Varu, because that’s what happens to people when an enormous elephant turns up unexpectedly that they understand is there to hurt them.
You only need the Horseback Riding tech to be able to build the Varu so you should prioritise their production after having settled the essentials in your first ten to 20 turns. After having declared a War of Territorial Expansion, the Varu has 45 combat strength and 4 movement for ten turns in addition to that weakening property, available in the Ancient era. Frankly, that’s ridiculous, so make the most of it.
Last but not least, the Varu upgrades straight to a tank later down the line, so it is a good means of keeping your military momentum up in the Modern era when Arthashastra no longer applies. Tanks require oil and the combustion tech, so make a beeline for those if you are planning a long Domination game.
Building a Varu (if ‘building’ can be considered the correct word for the creation of a war elephant) also gains you a lot of points towards triggering a Golden Age in the Ancient era, along with the Stepwell (below).
Stepwell
An all-purpose upgrade district, the Stepwell yields +1 food, +1 housing, +1 faith (if next to a Holy Site), and an additional +1 food if placed next to a farm. After researching Sanitation it provides an additional +1 housing, and after researching Professional Sports (for some reason) it provides another +1 food, too.
This isn’t the kind of district to plan an entire game around, but it’s certainly a big help towards keeping your city happy, loyal, and growing.
Dharma
Description: Receive the benefits of all Follower beliefs of Religions present in your cities, not just the one you founded.
This is a powerful way to generate extra bonuses. On the other hand, it requires a defter touch than usual when going for a Religious victory because, if you send in Apostles or Inquisitors to stamp out all trace of rival religions from your territory, you lose the follower bonuses too. It is best to keep some of your smaller cities as multi-faith dwellings so that you pick up their buffs.
If you are not going for a religious victory then this is of even greater benefit. Just let religions seep in across your empire and enjoy the buffs. You might need to create an Inquisitor now and then to stop one religion from taking over – thus blocking an enemy’s path to the Religious victory.
India – victory goals
The best path to victory with Chandragupta is via Domination. His early-game bonuses are simply too strong to ignore, and they stack so beautifully. First build some Varu and position them at the edge of your territory near an opponent’s city. This fills up your Golden Age meter a bit. Then, having researched Military Training, declare a War of Territorial Expansion on that opponent and send the Varu in to do their thing. Doing this, and gaining an enemy city, fills up that meter a bit more. Do it right, and you’ll have beaten one enemy by taking their capital and gained a large chunk of extra territory before the Ancient era ends, while also triggering a Golden Age.
To keep the ball rolling, use the Varu with supporting ranged units until they are outmatched by more modern enemy units, then sit tight and research hard until you can upgrade them to tanks. If you built enough Varu in the Ancient era and you have enough in your treasury, you will instantly be able to outmatch your nearby enemy’s army with one upgrade. So it’s a matter of going hard in the early game, sitting tight for a while, then going hard again towards the end.
If you are occupying a lot of enemy cities, loyalty will become a problem before too long. With that in mind, appoint a military-minded Governor in your capital as early as the game allows, and quickly promote them so that when the time comes to quell a disloyal city, you can send them in and stop worrying about it.
Religious victory is also a possibility thanks to Dharma’s bonuses and the Stepwell’s potential +3 faith points, but it is trickier than the Domination route – especially if you are doing it without Gandhi. Using Chandragupta’s early military advantage to take a civ that has already developed a couple of Holy Sites is the best foundation for this, then getting Stepwells built nice and early to generate a good faith point per turn total as soon as possible.
India – wonders
Wonders can help cement a particular approach with their buffs. Although most of those buffs tend to favour Culture or Religious victory approaches you can still gain an edge as the aggressor by building wisely.
Firstly, the Hanging Gardens are great for any civ regardless of victory route as they boost growth 15% in all cities and provide +2 housing in the city they are built in. After that, the Terracotta Army is a great idea for Chandragupta because in addition to providing +1 Great General points (having one of these would be handy for leading your Varu around) it bestows all land units with a free promotion. Alhambra is a good medieval wonder, netting you an extra military policy slot and +1 Great General point per turn.
Later in the game, the Ruhr Valley boosts production by 20% in the city it’s built in, while also adding +1 production for every mine and quarry in city limits.
Chandragupta – governments and policies
It is best to balance strong military policy with a few perks to keep your population happy when playing as Chandragupta. In the early game, that means opting for Oligarchy as soon as it’s available, because +4 combat strength for all land melee units is huge, particularly paired with a 20% experience increase. There is only one military policy slot but you can use the wildcard slot to chuck in another if you like.
From there, it is a toss-up between Monarchy and Theocracy depending on how your game goes. Since you will likely be sitting tight during this era and stockpiling for a later military assault, Monarchy’s blend of three military policy slots with one of each for the other policy types might suit you. Or, if you are benefiting from Dharma and want to make good use of your faith, pick Theocracy. This will let you buy land units with faith at a 15% discount, speeding up the stockpiling process. In the Modern era – and we can’t believe we are typing this – Fascism might be best for you. It speeds up unit production, boosts combat effectiveness, and provides a potential six military policy slots if you use the wildcards for military policies too. Seven, if you built Alhambra. Good luck sleeping at night, is all.
As for the policies themselves, Agoge will speed up production of those Varu by 50%, Conscription reduces each unit’s maintenance cost by 1 gold per turn, and Martial Law reduces war weariness by 25%. These three will keep you in decent shape throughout the game if you’re playing a long Domination victory, while the other military slots can be used more situationally. In need of fast defence? Bastions provides +6 city defense strength and +5 city ranged strength. Finally decided it’s time to upgrade those Varu to tanks? Pop Professional Army in one of your slots and do it for 50% less gold.
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The launch of Civilization 6 is finally here, and if you're like me, you're probably trying to figure out how to cheese your way to victory at your weekend Civ 6 launch LAN party.
After playing my pre-release copy of Civ 6 for exactly 10 billion hours, I'm pretty confident that this ranking of the best Civs in the game is as unimpeachable as any great despot.
Here are the Civs you should be picking first — and the one Civ you need to avoid.
The most powerful Civs in Civ 6, ranked by their ability to win you the game
20. Norway
Before I played the game, I thought the Harbor was going to be game-changing for players who aspired to do battle on the open water. Giving non-coastal cities the ability to build a fleet seemed incredible, allowing players to stay versatile in choosing where to settle a city.
And then I actually played Civ 6, and I realized that versatility comes at much too high a price: If you don't have to build coastal cities to create a navy, there's little-to-no incentive to build coastal cities at all. This means navies will have a hard time finding any cities to siege.
In other words, while it's easier to build ships than ever before, those ships will have just about nothing to do on most maps.
And a Civ like Norway, whose entire focus is on maritime domination, just can't cut it — especially with a unique land unit as terrible as the Berserker.
19.Sumeria
If you were confused by the idea of a Domination-focused Civ that gets its unique unit immediately when you first saw Gilgamesh's unveiling, you're not alone.
The other piece of that puzzle? Founded cities can't attack until they build walls. They also all have open borders until you research a Civic that closes your borders to everyone.
In other words, in early game, every single city is a huge target for immediate annihilation. And nobody does the job better than Gilgamesh.
Civ 6 Purchase Buildings With Faith
If you choose to switch to a more peaceful path later in the game, your Ziggurat will help out with any science you may have lost while building war units instead of augmenting your Campus districts. Your discount to levying City-States' military units also gives you a mercenary army on the cheap.
But this Civ will really shine as an ally in single-player mode or as an NPC. Think of them less like a Civ to choose for yourself and more like the most sophisticated City-State in the game.
And even though I'm ranking them one right after the other, the quality gap between Norway and Sumeria is immense. While ultimately unspectacular, Sumeria is much, much better than Norway. I cannot state that enough.
18.Kongo
In a lot of ways, Kongo is sort of the Venice of Civilization 6. What boosts Venice got to its gold-generation, Kongo gets to its ability to generate production and food from specific great works.
That means that Kongo wants to pursue a Cultural Victory over its enemies. It also means that Kongo is locked into pursuing a Cultural Victory over its enemies. And by the end of the game, especially if other cultural Civs are in play, it just doesn't have the means to wage the necessary wars to snatch wonders and great works. Kongo's unique district, the Mbanza, will help you house all the wonderful citizens to aid with science victories as well.
That said, Kongo's inability to found a religion means that an entire victory type is completely precluded for Mvemba a Nzinga. In a game where just about every other Civ stays versatile, an inherent penalty like this is pretty unacceptable.
17. Rome
Rome is the most boring Civilization in the game by a mile, but bonuses like free roads and columns are nothing to sneeze at. Still, Rome's versatility comes from its abject flavorlessness. Trajan is a true master-of-none, no matter how many columns he builds.
16. Aztecs
The Aztecs having advantages toward how their amenities are distributed means you'll be able to build cities in places where nobody can build anything. The ability to speed up production of districts with your Builders (which, by the way, you'll have in large supply thanks to your Eagle Warrior!) means you can get infrastructure going faster than practically every other Civ in the game. However, in my humble and good opinion, its advantages come far too early in the game. When you're scrambling to figure out your victory type by mid-to-late game, you won't have any sexy advantages.
Still, the ability to build a city just about anywhere thanks to your luxury efficiency makes the Aztecs a rock-solid choice.
15. Japan
Whereas Trajan was a master-of-none, Hojo Tokimune is a true jack-of-all-trades. The extra district adjacency bonuses force you to think very, very strategically about how you're planning the layout of your city. That'll give you a crash course in the most groundbreaking change between Civ 5 and Civ 6: the unpacked city, where every district and world wonder requires you to devote a tile to its production.
That said, those bonuses won't amount to much for the more casual player. Combat bonuses for coastal battle are unspectacular, but the Electronics Factory, which distributes its production bonus to nearby cities and eventually yields a huge cultural advantage, is nothing to write off for a Civ that wants to build compact cities as close to one another as possible.
In short, Japan has a lot to offer — but almost nothing to excite.
14. England
They're not as powerful as America when it comes to the dual focus on culture and war, but they're a lot more fun. The extra slots for archaeology mean that bee-lining Terracotta Army is as imperative to your success as Chichen Itza was for Brazil and Persia in Civ 5. Still, the Royal Navy Dockyard and Sea Dog are something of a waste for a city that, frankly, wants to defend its capital. The Redcoat is an awesome unit for helping you seize cities that control wonders you want — as long as they're on another continent.
13. Egypt
Gold isn't the resource it used to be (especially if you have strong faith generation and you dip into Theocracy), but Cleopatra's Egypt holds its own all thanks to its unique unit and its ability to streamline wonders it builds on rivers.
However, because rivers are so overpowered in this game due to the new Housing mechanic, finding the means to build cities along those banks are going to be few and far between — especially if people start Settler-spamming.
Egypt's unique unit, the Maryanu Chariot Archer, is as overpowered as it's ever been.
12. Spain
Conquistadors are tremendous. Link them with Missionaries for a huge power spike and conquer cities with different religions from yours for even more combat power. Microsoft onedrive account will be deleted. The ability to convert your conquest immediately means that both Religious and Domination Victories are at your fingertips.
That said, the Mission is a truly unspectacular tile improvement.
11. India
While I don't love narrow Civilizations for Civ 6, India's ability to generate more Faith than practically any other Civ in the game means that they're also in a good spot to pursue war come Theocracy, the government type that allows you to purchase military units with all that extra faith.
Just remember that any wars you may siege will hamper your bonus Faith production, which only comes at peace time.
The Top 10 Civilizations in Civ VI
10. France
There is no Civ in Civ 6 more fun than France. Full stop.
Catherine de Medici's ladies-in-waiting give you crucial information on every Civ you meet at the end of just about every turn. Want to know if Scythia founded a new city? Is China working on yet another wonder? You'll know before anybody else.
This gives you a vital opportunity to trade in information during multiplayer. You'll know everything before anybody else, and you can give that information to your strategic allies — for a price.
While the Tourism bonus is immense, boosts to production for every mid-game wonder means that just about every victory type is open to you — not just Cultural. The Garde Impériale's combat bonus at home and extra Great General generation points will all but ensure that everybody who comes to visit Paris is there for all the sights along the Seine.
9.Brazil
Brazil is as good as Kongo at building high-population cities in the rainforest. However, he's far more versatile than Kongo thanks to his ability to spam Great People, which can be used to bring Brazil toward any victory type.
Its only drawback is an unspectacular naval unit that won't help you defend your Street Carnivals from those who came to Brazil for more unsavory pursuits.
8. Sparta
Gorgo big or Gorgo home, am I right?
(I'm wrong — sorry.)
That extra Wildcard policy spot is to die for. Too bad that warmongering is punished harder than ever, and that leaving a barbarian camp up to spam the cultural bonus from killing units is riskier than ever.
Still, the ability to have an extra law in her nation means that Gorgo can pursue just about any victory type. Unfortunately, those Hoplites obsolesce far too quickly, and if you haven't accomplished what you need to in the Ancient and Classical Eras, claiming victory may be tricky.
7. Athens
Pericles — you perfect, peaceful orator, you. Again, that extra Wildcard policy spot Greece gets is to die for. And once this Civ gets going, it's pretty unstoppable.
Its Achilles heel? Kill its City-State allies in the late game and they've got nothing special. Ask for Germany's assistance in that department if need be.
6. America
The Rough Rider is one of the best unique units in the game, and its culture-on-kills means Roosevelt does Gorgo after Gorgo can't really do Gorgo anymore.
Huge boosts to your tourism thanks to Film Studios and national park bonuses mean that America is a terrific late game Civ — as long as you and Teddy make it that far.
The Top 5 Civilizations in Civ 6
5. Arabia
Civ Vi Religion
This didn't really come through in the Arabia preview, but this Civ's ability to churn out Science is remarkable. The fact that it's guaranteed a Religion means you can either use those bonuses to ramp your way up towards a Science victory, or you're guaranteed the ability to be able to pursue a Religious Victory.
4. China
The extra charge for the Builder. The boost to early game wonder production (that pretty much guarantees you can build the Pyramids and supercharge that Builder). A unique defensive tile improvement in the Great Wall that gives you gold and culture. This is the absolute best Civ in the game for turtling.
3. Scythia
Scythia's ability to produce two light cavalry units every time it builds one — including its unique unit, a mounted archer that doesn't require horses to build — is utterly outrageous for any Civ that wants to pursue domination victories. If you see Scythia spawn next to you, bolster your defenses or say your prayers. Losing your capital is all but assured.
Keep on pushing toward a Domination Victory, or conquer key cities and build towards a more peaceful Victory type; the choice is yours.
2. Germany
That extra district regardless of population size may not seem like much, but it affords you a versatility to pursue any Victory type that no other Civ in the game can boast. Thinking about science? Have all your cities build a free campus. A mind for the arts? Build Theater Districts till your heart's content. If zealotry's more your speed, construct a Holy Site and spam Apostles like there's no tomorrow.
An extra military policy slot adds insult to injury for all who dare oppose you — use it to play a strong offense if you're pursuing a Domination Victory, or fortify your capital with defensive civics that shore up your defenses.
The Best Civilization in Civ 6, without further ado..
1. Russia
Words cannot describe how good this Civ is, but I'll try anyway: In a game where cities are unpacked from their center, a Civ that gets all those extra tiles when it founds a city is seriously overpowered. Getting huge bonuses from all those tundra tiles means there's nowhere Russia won't want to settle — and it means miles and miles of open snow to pursue without angering anyone.
But it's the Cossack that makes an excellent Civ even better. Not only are they stronger than the Cavalry unites they replace, their ability to move after they attack means that nobody can mess with you in the mid-to-late game.
Don't be fooled: This Civ can pursue any victory type. The fact that they get so many tiles to work with means you have ample space to place whatever wonders and tile improvements you like.
It also means you'll want to bee-line Hanging Gardens for the boosts to citizen growth. Being able to work every single tile you own — and thanks to your unique ability and the Lavra, you'll own too many to count — means you'll have the most powerful cities in the game after you get access to Neighborhoods.
We hope this helped you build a civilization that can stand the test of time. Go forth and conquer — or just get everyone wearing your blue jeans. The choice is yours.