Civilization 6 Tier List 1.0

[Aldor]

By far I haven't played all the new civs yet. But my best experience so far was with Russia. I didn't expect much of them from what I knew, but in actual play they are very enjoyable (I also got a nice map with them, so that may have helped

Overall I think people may have underestimated Russia. Its definitely one of the great civs, IMO.

 

[Pysethus]

I would rate China higher but it's still early to know for sure. Additional charge for workers seems really strong because wood chopping is overpowered in early game.

 

[Infiltrator]

Would definitely rate scythia higher, from a competitive strategy. I've been attacked by 2 very close neighbours on deity, including barbarians and was able to fend them all off, recuperate for a bit then mass an army and wipe off one of them pretty fast. I am not sure if germany can live through such an assault without the military output of scythia. Later on, vampiric units are just as insane as early, and double output for cavalry/helicopters is just as good.

They said russia's alt leader will focus on domination, and I can't wait since quite frankly anything will beat Peter's "bonus".

 

[CaiusDrewart]

I'm with you on Germany being the best. I'm not sure Free Imperial Cities is that necessary (you could get the districts you need even without it, especially since your industrial zones don't count), but the Hanse and extra military policy slot are just crazy. Only Greece is close, but their unique district isn't as important.

I think Russia could be pretty strong if the Leader UA wasn't total garbage. What a joke that is.

I think America is better than bottom tier purely because of the +5 own-continent combat bonus. That's really good in early war. I think I like them more than India, Spain, and Norway. Admittedly nothing else about them is good.

Sumeria is horrible if you are unwilling to exploit the UA by farming barb camps. But if you leave a bunch of patches of fog in your territory, you can get a pretty regular stream of Eurekas and Inspirations by farming them. (I hate the design there.)

 

[Galbias]

Came in ready to complain if Germany (or at least Hansa) wasn't near the top. Hansa is just so, so good, the adjacency bonuses are usually worth 2-3 production over a regular Ind Zone and then you also save a bunch of hammers building it and it doesn't count towards the district cap. I think Hansa and Free Imperial Cities actually kind of conflict with each other because having the no-brainer district that you're going to build everywhere not count to your limit already basically gives you a free district, you're probably not going to be building 4 districts in a city with 4 pop. Maybe someone will come up with some optimal tight city clustering strategy though, certainly seems possible.

CS bonus seems potentially useful given that conquering city states is a lot better, but I think Germany is better focused on building up their infrastructure early, though it might've been different if they had a decent UU. Between early game wars and raging barbarians I usually end up having to build up my military more than I'd like on higher difficulties (and the free military policy is awesome for that since you can slot unit prod bonus and barb combat bonus at the same time).

Greece as a whole aside, the Acropolis seems like one of the worst UDs simply because of the hill limitation. Hill tiles are awesome and you want a lot of them, oftentimes you'll have an otherwise decent city location with only a couple hills, and having to use one of them for the Acropolis would suck. I guess any UD is good to an extent simply due to the production saved.

also agreeing that Scythia seems too low

 

[joncnunn]

I would rate Rome much higher:

1. All Roads lead to Rome : I'd rate it 10/10 This is an instant free road from the capital to both cities you found (within trade range of Rome) and ones you conquer (one of Ed Beach's videos; the one with him playing Rome) This gives a massive mobility edge throughout the core portion of your empire instantly when everyone else has to build a trade unit to even start the process.

2. Legion: 6 is very low considering that it (like all other Unique units) does not require Iron. Anyone else if they want quick Swords has to pray there is Iron near them. I'd rate it 8/10.

 

[lamaros]

I've only played a full game through on the one civ, but from my limited experience there I would agree that Norway is pretty poor. Russia is ok, Peter aside, and Greece is very good with both leaders (Gorgo better).

Germany and Rome both look pretty powerful and near the best, exploits aside.

 

[Promethian]

I rate Greece higher because of the tremendously powerful tier 2 promotion that anti-cav gets that doubles their power when paired with a support unit. A hoplite with a battering ram under it and double power is the destroyer of worlds.

 

[Chaleb]

Is this list for Diety? If so there isn't too much I have to say. Are you aware of the exploits wih Scythia where they can build Saka Horse Archers (they get two for one build) and instantly disband them to get a ton of gold? This is potentially on top of the military civic that lets you build mounted units quicker. It seems really solid, but I haven't tried it out myself yet.

 

[Ornen]

"The Grand Embassy" at 1/10 is painfully low. I'm saving Russia for my first Deity run, but I imagine it will be an incredibly useful way to catch up on science and culture in the midgame. Combined with their massive tile boost, they're not a bad civ at all.

The only thing I don't like about Greece is the Acropolis – having to place it on hill makes planning cities a bit trickier. But yes, the wild card bonus is huge.

 

[Infiltrator]

The grand embassy is probably the worst leader ability I've ever seen. I get that some bonuses aren't obvious and shouldn't be always worth to go for, but even when this thing works.. I can't believe they can put that in the game with a straight face, so, so bad, this nets you like 1 science/culture if you're still in the game and a bit more if you're scheduled to get bent over. The russian domination leader couldn't come any sooner.

 

[Chaleb]

The main thing about the Grand Embassy for me is that I almost always find it better to be sending trade routes between my own cities than outside. The food and production bonus is just too good to pass up.

 

[Myth and Legend]

You really need to rank Gorgo in the S+ tier. You can get Poland level of cultural income with a modest investment in units. 4 archers into 4 field canons were able to farm 3 or 4 times as much culture as my cities were producing early to mid game (before I took all the AI cities wtih those free cultural districts). This doesn't diminish lategame - you can keep an indefinite war and blitz trhough the policy tree, which is actually much harder to do than filling out the tech tree.

 

[Siesta Guru]

I'd say scythia is probably one of the best if not the best. Played a multiplayer game against her, and got absolutely wrecked by a player using her while I should've had a great advantage. I had perfect defensible terrain with mountain chokes and forested hills, I was playing pericles and could pump 1.5 hoplites every single turn, which should be a counter to horse spam, yet I still got completely outclassed. The constant healing of their units through a combination of their trait plus promotions is impossible to deal with on such high mobility units that don't actually do too bad of a job at defending.
With the long gaps between unit upgrades, a horseman + horse archer army will last well into the medieval so you can't really outtech them either, even if for a moment you may be ahead, prepare for healing knights with 3 upgrades, easily obtained by disbanding some horse archers for gold.

 

[UnknownHuman]

I’d rate trading ability much higher, especially Cleopatra’s Mediterranean’s Bride, because having a strong economy early in the game means you can buy most units/buildings needed and dedicate your production to district/wonder/project, and trade routes are even stronger with the right policies: Ecommerce, Economic Union, Market Economy, Colonial Taxes, Free Market, Online Communities, and Arsenal of Democracy to have an insane income.

During my first game with Cleopatra I managed to reach + 400 gold near the turn 150 and by the turn 300 I had more than 900 gold, needless to say I bought all buildings and boosted a lot of Great People.

Didn’t played England yet, but British Museum looks to be nice for a cultural victory since thematic bonuses for archaeological museum are easy to get, which is even better if the said museum as its capacity doubled.

 

[Infiltrator]

I'd say scythia is probably one of the best if not the best. Played a multiplayer game against her, and got absolutely wrecked by a player using her while I should've had a great advantage. I had perfect defensible terrain with mountain chokes and forested hills, I was playing pericles and could pump 1.5 hoplites every single turn, which should be a counter to horse spam, yet I still got completely outclassed. The constant healing of their units through a combination of their trait plus promotions is impossible to deal with on such high mobility units that don't actually do too bad of a job at defending.
With the long gaps between unit upgrades, a horseman + horse archer army will last well into the medieval so you can't really outtech them either, even if for a moment you may be ahead, prepare for healing knights with 3 upgrades, easily obtained by disbanding some horse archers for gold.

Sorry but Hoplites just annihilate horsemen even if you send them 1 by 1 (in formation it's not even a contest) and the saka horse archer, while great at their time, loses steam quickly. But more importantly, they both transition very, very poorly as they miss upgrades for TWO whole eras. Knights aren't in their path, so healing knights with 3 upgrades, I don't think so.

The sell thing is an obvious exploit though and should be fixed.

 

[Esperr]

If were removing the scythia exploit, at least from what ive played, germany is the strongest with the aztecs and china at a very close second. Germany just has a better broad strokes strategy.

 

[LanguishViking]

I agree on this, especially with germany since the hansa is both cheaper AND it gets a bonus for adjecency to commercial hubs.

 

[UnknownHuman]

"The Grand Embassy" at 1/10 is painfully low. I'm saving Russia for my first Deity run, but I imagine it will be an incredibly useful way to catch up on science and culture in the midgame. Combined with their massive tile boost, they're not a bad civ at all.

Just finished a game with Russia in Immortal, and the Grand Embassy is not that bad.

I used it to mainly boost my culture, and with the other policies boosting culture through trade routes or districts, I caught up to my science easily without investing anything in culture based buildings. The only issue I found was that I had my great artist/writer/musician coming from the Lavra bonus who couldn’t be used until I made the right district/wonder later on.

All in all I think the Grand Embassy + few policies gave me around 80 culture and 10 science, which probably makes it stronger than Surrounded by Glory in higher difficulty since its harder to keep suzerainty there than having trade routes.

 

[LanguishViking]

I'm impressed how well-rounded and versatile Rome is!
- Legions are the swiss army knife among UU's and come just as you need them, no matter if you defend or conquer
- Strong culture and better tile aquisition through free monuments
- Trade/gold bonus
- faster movement along free roads helps both economy and military

Norway is fun sometimes, but it is a very situational one-trick pony. Berserkers don't seem too cost-effective (at least if you have iron for swordsmen).
The stave church might not be too bad on water maps with few mountains.

Stave Church + Feed the World + Forest tiles means never having to have food tiles. When you can plant trees later you just do that on any non-district time and build lumber mills and you still grow tall.