Often overlooked and sometimes underappreciated, support units are the unsung heroes of your military campaigns in Civilization 6 Gathering Storm. So let’s break down the value these units bring to the battlefield and how you can leverage them to turn the tide in your favor.
Understanding Support Units
Before we dive into specifics, let’s get a clear picture of what support units are all about. Unlike your standard military units, support units share their tiles with others, standing side by side with your combat units. This makes them uniquely versatile but also vulnerable, as they lack attack and defense capabilities on their own. Hence, pairing them with a protective escort is crucial for their survival.
Battering Ram
Ability: Full damage to Ancient city walls
Ram position: Adjacent to the target city center or target encampment
Units that benefit: Melee and Anti-Cavalry
Units position: Adjacent to the target city center or target encampment
Siege Tower
Ability: Damage to city health bypassing Medieval or Ancient walls
Siege Tower position: Adjacent to the target city center or target encampment
Units that benefit: Melee and Anti-Cavalry
Units position: Adjacent to the target city center or target encampment
Medic
Ability: Heal units at extra 20HP per turn.
Medic position: Adjacent to on the same tile as combat units
Units that benefit: Combat ground that did not move or perform action this turn
Units position: Adjacent to or on the same tile as Medic
- Healing ability stacks with multiple Medics, meaning that it is possible to heal a unit in one turn.
Supply Convoy
Ability: Heal units at extra 20HP per turn and +1 Movement
Supply Convoy position: Adjacent to on the same tile as combat units
Units that benefit: Combat ground that did not move or perform action this turn
Units position: Adjacent to or on the same tile as Supply Convoy
- Healing ability stacks with multiple Supply Convoys
- Supply Convoy allows artillery to fire after moving. By combining artillery and the Supply Convoy, you can move forward and fire in the same turn.
Observation Balloon
Ability:
- +1 attack range
- +3 sight range
Balloon position: Adjacent to on the same tile as siege units
Units that benefit: Siege units that did not move or perform action this turn
Units position: Adjacent to or on the same tile as Observation Balloon
- Allows siege units to attack over rough terrain like mountains, woods, hills
- Balloon can move to provide bonus to additional units the same turn
Drone
Ability:
- +1 attack range
- +5 bombard strength (Artillery and Rocket Artillery)
- +5 sight range
Drone position: Adjacent to on the same tile as siege units
Units that benefit: Siege units that did not move or perform action this turn
Units position: Adjacent to or on the same tile as Drone
Anti-Air Gun
- Protects units within 1 tile from air attack (works best against bi-planes and bombers, less so against fighters)
- 90 Base Combat Strength
- +5 support strength to adjacent Anti-Air Gun
Mobile SAM
- Protects units within 1 tile from air attack (works best against jet bombers and older class, less so against jet fighters)
- Chance to intercept and destroy nuclear missile that targets tiles within 1 of Mobile Sam range
- 100 Base Combat Strength
- +5 support strength to adjacent Mobile SAM
- Nukes launched from Missile Silos and Nuclear Submarines can be intercepted if they target a tile within a Mobile SAM’s defensive radius.
- If a bomber delivering a nuke comes within 1 tile of a Mobile SAM and its health is reduced to below 50%, the attack will fail.
Military Engineer
Requirements: Can only be built in a city with Encampment and Armory. Comes with 2 charges.
Abilities:
- Charges can be used to:
- Build roads (until Steam Power). Best use is to create bridges across rivers.
- Contribute 20% of the production cost to district construction: Aqueduct, Dam, Canal, Flood Barrier
- Contribute to a city project (Royal Society government building required)
- Build mountain tunnel
- Build fort, missile silo, air strip. Can be built in home or neutral territory
- Remove features
- Clear nuclear fallout
- No charge expended:
- Build railroads (1 iron/1 coal cost per tile) – no charge expended. Can be built in home, neutral or hostile territory
- Repair or remove improvements
Support units in Civ 6 embody the saying, “Behind every great leader, there’s a great support team.” Whether it’s breaching ancient walls or laying down railroads to mobilize your forces, incorporating these units into your strategy can significantly impact your path to victory.