Civilization 6 is a complex game that challenges players to build an empire that stands the test of time. Whether you’re a seasoned player or new to the series, mastering various aspects of the game can significantly enhance your gameplay experience. Here are 12 tips to help you optimize your strategy and gain an edge over both AI and human opponents.
1. Utilize 4th Ring Tiles
Although the tiles in the 4th ring beyond your city center are not workable, they are invaluable for harvesting resources. Harvesting tiles can still contribute food, production bonuses to the owning city, and gold directly to your treasury. Furthermore, they can be designated for National Parks, enhancing your cultural victory potential. And finally, building improvements like farms and fisheries will still provide housing and solar/wind plants will provide electricity.
2. Expand Your Borders with Wonders
Building wonders is not just about gaining their unique benefits; it also expands your city borders by two tiles, often extending towards high-yield tiles. This strategic expansion can provide crucial resources and strategic advantages.
3. Leverage Mount St. Michel for Religious Victories
Mount St. Michel might seem underwhelming at first glance, but it plays a pivotal role in religious victories by removing the martyr promotion from the pool. This increases your chances of obtaining more impactful promotions like Debater or Proselytizer, enhancing your religious spread and dominance.
4. Teleport Great People for Efficiency
Maximize the mobility of your Great People by using the “Transfer to Another City” action instead of manually moving them. This feature is especially useful for theming museums with Great Artists or repositioning Great Admirals quickly between oceans. In the Heroes and Legends mode, you can also transfer Heroes, optimizing their use across your empire.
5. Maya’s Early Builder Advantage
As the Maya, leverage your civilization’s trait by settling cities within 6 tiles of your capital. This strategy allows you to gain an extra builder when constructing the Ancestral Hall, speeding up your early development.
6. Fortify Before Promoting
When engaged in combat, fortify a unit before promoting it. By canceling the fortify order and then promoting, the unit retains its fortified status, gaining additional health and the benefits of the promotion. This can be a game-changer in early skirmishes.
7. Trade Wisely with AI
Engage in strategic trading with AI, exchanging resources and gold for mutual benefit. Selling resources and great works can be a significant source of income, while purchasing luxuries from AI can boost your amenities at a low cost.
8. Aircraft Carriers as Melee Units
Remember that aircraft carriers can act as melee units. Use the airplanes stationed on carriers to weaken city defenses, then capture the city with the carrier itself, adding a surprising element to your military strategies.
9. Chop Holy Site Prayers for Fast Religion
Accelerate your religion’s spread by chopping forests or other resources to complete the Holy Site Prayers project quicker. This generates Great Prophet points faster, and any overflow points after recruiting a Great Prophet convert to faith, boosting your religious efforts.
10. Choose Colonization Belief for Expansion
The Religious Colonization belief ensures that any city you found or conquer adopts your religion automatically, even if it lacks a Holy Site. This belief is invaluable for spreading your faith across new and acquired cities effortlessly.
11. Master Exploration Techniques
Explore efficiently by following the path of least resistance and utilizing game mechanics, such as the direction of river flow, to discover coasts and predict the location of unseen cities. Using the settler lens can reveal the presence of nearby, unrevealed cities by highlighting contested settlement tiles.
12. Protect Your City-States
Defend your suzerain city-states from aggression by leveraging their troops. Levy the city-state’s military to create roadblocks and chokepoints, preventing AI attacks. This strategy is especially effective when the city-state is geographically positioned to utilize natural terrain advantages.
By incorporating these 12 tips into your Civilization 6 strategy, you can optimize your gameplay, effectively manage your empire, and position yourself for victory across multiple victory conditions.
