Civilizations and favored victory conditions cheat sheet

[GT_OKEZ]

Each Civ and Leader in Civ 6 was designed to favor a particular victory condition. That's not to say any Civ can't win any victory condition which depends on the player (exception is Mvemba and his inability to win a religious victory) but it seems clear the Devs designed Civs and Leaders with particular victory conditions in mind. So onward:

America/Teddy: Cultural
Arabia/Saladin: Science enhanced with Religion
Aztec/Monte: Domination
Brazil/Pedro: Cultural
China/QSH: Cultural
Egypt/Cleo: Cultural
England/Vicky: Cultural (Domination on heavy water maps)
France/Cathy: Cultural
Germany/Fred: Science
Greek/Pericles: Cultural
Greek/Gorgo: Domination
India/Gandhi: Religious
Japan/Hojo: Domination
Kongo/Mvemba:Cultural
Norway/Harold: Religious (Domination on heavy water maps)
Poland/Jadwiga: Domination enhanced wtih Religion
Rome/Trajan: Domination
Russia/Peter: Cultural enhanced with Religion
Scythia/Tomyris: Domination
Spain/Philip: Domination enhanced with Religion
Sumeria: Science

Again, almost all of these Civs/Leaders can win any condition based on the player but this is my quick check sheet on which victory conditions are most favored based on the Civ and Leader bonuses.

 

[ShinigamiKenji]

I think there should be some flexibility there, instead of pointing out only one victory condition. Newer players might aim only for that specific victory, regardless of circumstance.

For example, Sumeria can do a viable Domination via War Cart > Knight > Tanks, and Brazil might do well at Domination in water maps with their Minas Geraes.

I think there should be a preferred victory and a backup victory(ies)

 

[DiffSarit]

I think Russia preferred victory is Religion or Domination back up by Religion. Cultural is only for back up plan.

 

[GT_OKEZ]

I think there should be some flexibility there, instead of pointing out only one victory condition. Newer players might aim only for that specific victory, regardless of circumstance.

For example, Sumeria can do a viable Domination via War Cart > Knight > Tanks, and Brazil might do well at Domination in water maps with their Minas Geraes.

I think there should be a preferred victory and a backup victory(ies)

Indeed, I didn't mean to sound restrictive and inflexible which is why I prefaced the post with any Civ can win any victory condition given the nature of the player and the dynamics of whats going on in the game.

I was looking at unique leader and civilization bonuses and abilities and was trying to tease out the core design of each Civ and what victory they are best geared for. That doesn't mean they are not well equipped for other victories.

Sumeria can start a snowball domination strat with their war carts which upgrade into awesome units throughout the game but one has to consider Sumeria as a whole in context and not just the power of war carts.

It seems that War Carts are designed to have synergy with your Civ UA giving them great efficiency at eliminating barb camps for tribal village rewards. Tribal villages can give you all kinds of rewards and technology boosts are one of them. Sumeria has the ability bolt ahead of other Civs right from the start which gives them an edge.

Giglamesh's UA is designed to help Sumeria defend itself and pick and choose strategically advantageous battles. Giglamesh excels at military when he's got allies in city states or other Civs. If someone chooses to fight Sumeria then the idea is that they will have to fight more than just Sumeria, possibly an ally or cheaply levied City State units too.

Ziggerauts are designed to help you bolt ahead in science giving a raw +2 science yield on any tile it's built on and they are available early. Only Sumeria can do this so early in the game.

In short, strong early game with an impressive military (which has nice upgrade paths to be relevant later too) to set yourself up ahead of your opponents to be ahead in the science race.

Brazil can be a monster on a mid-late game sea map, I'll give you that but if you look at all of Brazil's and Pedro's bonuses as a whole, they are definitely favored in a cultural victory.

 

[GT_OKEZ]

I think Russia preferred victory is Religion or Domination back up by Religion. Cultural is only for back up plan.

Sure, both domination and religious victories are pretty good with Russia but once again, I was looking at the core design of all the Civ/Leader Uniques. The Cossack is awesome but is actually the most efficient on defense rather than offense which makes it a better protector than invader. Russia's cheap but strong Lavras give the opportunity for a really powerful religious game but Lavras also generate culture focused great people which means if Russia builds a Lavra in every city they're going to be directly competing with Kongo for the most culture focused great people in the game. If Peter takes religious beliefs that boost his culture game then that's an awesome synergy.

Peter's UA was designed to not let you fall too far behind the tech/civics race or to keep up in culture so you don't get eclipsed by another players' tourism.

 

[Dale]

Rome can pull off a pretty easy culture win too. Limiting them to domination only is not really representative of good playing of Rome.

 

[timtwins]

I like the list. People seem to be disregarding the disclaimer you put that victory can be achieved multiple ways. Nice work. Bookmarked.

 

[GT_OKEZ]

Rome can pull off a pretty easy culture win too. Limiting them to domination only is not really representative of good playing of Rome.

Read my entire post. I'm not limiting Rome to a domination victory, I'm saying Domination is what they are primarily designed for. They do other things well too obviously. Rome is an exceptional Civ in Civ VI that excels at so many things.

 

[Dale]

Read my entire post. I'm not limiting Rome to a domination victory, I'm saying Domination is what they are primarily designed for. They do other things well too obviously. Rome is an exceptional Civ in Civ VI that excels at so many things.

Rome is designed for both domination and culture. People just see Rome as a domination Civ, but by design it's a culture Civ too. Free monuments is just the beginning.

You say for Russia "Culture enhanced with Religion" well Rome is "Domination enhanced with Culture".

 

[ShinigamiKenji]

Rome can also do well at Science, if you think about it. Extra housing and amenities from Baths mean more population, which translates to more culture and worked tiles, not to mention that their UD don't need additional pop to be built. Legions also come pretty early for early expansion/defense, and don't cost resources. Free monuments and trade posts don't let you fall behind on culture or gold while focusing on Science, and free roads mean extra mobility for your units near the late game (which should come earlier than most if you play science).

Actually, the only victory Rome doesn't particularly excel is Religion (and even this is relative, given the Monuments translate to earlier religious civics).

I liked the approach of analizing each Civ's uniques and making the most of them, but sometimes the best victory type is almost tied with the second best. Sumeria is a prime example, where you can also leverage all their uniques for a Domination aided by Science & Diplomacy, but some others are not so explicit (like Poland's Culture aided by Religion & Domination, which I once pulled off)

 

[Sprenk]

I almost wonder if it doesn't make more sense to label civs in other ways than by victory conditions? For example, some civs are obviously "expansionist" (Rome), while others might do relatively better with large, well-developed cities (Kongo). Some civs do well on water maps, others on pangaea, etc. I understand the disclaimers made in the original post, but I rarely play a particular civ with only one particular victory condition in mind.

So Japan is labeled "Domination," but domination on a water map (where Japan's biggest military bonus comes) can be awkward and prolonged. I usually end up playing them for religion/culture, since they can build those districts in half the time.

 

[liv]

Should Spain not be the other way around - religious victory assisted by domination (well taking cities on different continents and spreading your faith )?

 

[ShinigamiKenji]

Maybe using a score-out-of-10 system, like Zigzagzigal did in his Civ V guides.

For example, Sumeria might get a 9/10 for science, but a 7/10 for domination, which makes it pretty suitable for both.

 

[joncnunn]

Should Spain not be the other way around - religious victory assisted by domination (well taking cities on different continents and spreading your faith )?

I would agree with this; for all such references. In fact even in cases that just list "Domination" by itself, a much faster victory (in terms of turn number) would occur for a conquest induced Religious or Cultural victory if this is a normal map.

 

[Futumch]

Glad I'm not the only one who calls the leader of Germany Fred, and the leader of Spain Phil.
The games I've had Japan in, he doesn't strike me as overly agressive, as I would expect a Domination-seeking civ to be. Just an observation. He's not a pacifist by any stretch, but not as warlike as Spain or France (in my experience).

 

[UWHabs]

Sure, both domination and religious victories are pretty good with Russia but once again, I was looking at the core design of all the Civ/Leader Uniques. The Cossack is awesome but is actually the most efficient on defense rather than offense which makes it a better protector than invader. Russia's cheap but strong Lavras give the opportunity for a really powerful religious game but Lavras also generate culture focused great people which means if Russia builds a Lavra in every city they're going to be directly competing with Kongo for the most culture focused great people in the game. If Peter takes religious beliefs that boost his culture game then that's an awesome synergy.

Peter's UA was designed to not let you fall too far behind the tech/civics race or to keep up in culture so you don't get eclipsed by another players' tourism.

I'm playing as Peter right now, and if you get the right map, you can be a crazy religious powerhouse.
-Cheap Lavra gives Peter one of the better chances at founding a religion
-Get dance of the aurora pantheon, and each Lavra is giving you at least a +4 adjacency. I have a tundra-based natural wonder near me, and that lavra is pulling in a +9 adjacency.
-Throw in the +100% adjacency civic, and that's just stupid the amount of faith you pull in.
-Now, tundra cities are kind of crappy, but if you get the "feed the world" belief for your religion, then each city gets a base +6 food, which pairs really well with working some tundra forest/lumber mills
-Throw in external trade routes to supplement your science and culture (I'm getting +3 science per route), and saving lots of money by having to buy fewer tiles, and it helps in turtling up.

They play the game completely differently than every other civ. And admittedly, if you don't have a very good tundra section near you or for whatever reason don't get insane lavras from dance of the aurora, then yeah, they're not a religious civ. And you could very easily pull off the same strategy with many other civs, but none have a bias to start near the tundra, and such easy access to a religion as Russia does. Yeah, they could easily shift to culture if the religious game gets away from them (tons of cultural GP, and lots of faith and space to run national parks), but I'd agree that they should be more set for a religious win.

Of course, I do love how almost every civ also has a solid "backup" plan as well. There's very few civs that are so totally focused on one victory condition above all else.

 

[ShinigamiKenji]

As Peter, you can use other faith-giving pantheons instead of Dance of the Aurora, if you start far from tundra. Desert Folklore, Sacred Path and Stone Circles are the best ones for that.