Design your own Civ VI civ

[IgorS]

Here are my Babylonia and Mongolia, as posted in another thread.

Babylonians:
Civilization ability: Ummânū – receive a random eureka upon attracting a great person, campus districts receive +1 science if built next to a river
Unique unit 1: Axeman (replaces swordsman) – available at bronze working, and does not require iron
Unique unit 2: Kassite Chariot (replaces heavy chariot) – 1 range, 35 range strength, +1 movement if starts on level terrain
Unique infrastructure: Ziggurat – +2 faith, +1 culture if next to a river, +1 culture after discovering natural history
(This design is based on replacing the Sumerians with the Babylonians. This is why Babylonia receives a ziggurat improvement.)

Leader 1: Hammurabi
Capital: Babilim
Ability: The Lawgiver – code of laws is researched 50% faster, legacy bonuses for all governments provide a 2% bonus instead of 1%
Agenda: An Eye for an Eye – likes leaders who declare war on his enemies, dislikes leaders who refuse joint wars, aims to conquer city-states that went to war against him

Leader 2: Nebuchadnezzar
Capital: Babilim
Ability: Babylonian Revival – ancient walls add +70 to outer defense strength, antiquity sites within Babylonia’s borders are revealed with recorded history, artifacts of Babylonian origin may be extracted by builders and stored in temples, providing 1 faith
Agenda: Might of Marduk – likes civilizations with large armies and cities with many districts and buildings, dislikes civilizations with small armies and many small cities

Mongols:
Civilization ability: Yam – builders can construct roads, +1 movement for cavalry units
Unique unit 1: Kheshig (replaces knight) – -6 melee strength, 45 ranged strength, earn promotions 50% faster
Unique unit 2: Hui-Hui Pao (replaces siege tower) – not a support, but rather a siege unit, 25 melee strength, 45 bombard strength, -20 production cost, upgrades to bombard
Unique infrastructure: Örtöö – cannot be built adjacent to a city centre, must be built on a road, units heal twice as fast on a tile with an örtöö, +1 movement for cavalry units passing through it

Leader 1: Genghis Khan
Capital: Avarga
Ability: Yassa – cannot declare holy wars, and holy wars cannot be declared against him, pillaging consumes -1 movement point, +10 production in cities during war
Agenda: Mongol Terror – likes civilizations with large armies and empires, dislikes civilizations with small armies and empires, especially on his home continent

Leader 2: Kublai Khan
Capital: Khanbaliq
Ability: Great Yuan – +1 culture and science from foreign trade routes, +2 when trading with a city on a different continent
Agenda: Pax Mongolica – likes leaders who send trade routes to his cities and have a lower tourism output, dislikes those not trading with him and producing more tourism

 

[Gabriel Sergio]

Boku No Hero Academia (Bnha) Civ

Japan
Leader : All Might (Toshinori Yagi)
UA : Quirk Peoples - Every unit gains +50% combat and +1 movement
UU : Heroes - Unique information era unit, gains random ability (like Kris swordsman in Civ 5) after produced
UI : Hero Academy - Produce 1 GPP per turn for Great General, Great Merchant and Great Engineer. +2 science and +50% exp for every unit produced in the city
LA : Number One Hero : Unit gains additional combat bonus when fighting in own terittory. Science and culture increase 50% when at peace.
Agenda : The Symbol of Peace : Like Civ who peaceful. Dislike Civ who attacking other civ.
Music Theme : You Say Run

Additional Leader
Endeavor (Todoroki Enji)
LA : Harsh Hero Training : Millitary District and building increased its output
Agenda : Hero Number Two : Likes civ who weaker than him, Dislikes Civ who stronger than him.
Theme : Just Another Hero

 

[IgorS]

Well, another civ design. This time: the Inca.

Civilization ability: Mit’a – roads are automatically constructed between cities with holy sites, food producing improvements adjacent to a holy site provide +1 food, mines and quarries adjacent to a holy site provide +1 production, land military units and workers are produced 25% faster in cities with a food surplus of at least 5
Unique unit 1: Chanca Clubman (replaces Pikeman) – +5 melee strength
Unique unit 2: Antisuyu Bowman (replaces crossbowman) – may attack twice per turn, one attack is with the sling and is weaker (35 strength), another attack is with the bow and is stronger (45 strength)
Unique infrastructure: Andén – must be built on plains or grassland hills, +2 food, +1 food when adjacent to another andén or farm, +1 science with civil engineering

Leader 1: Pachacuti
Capital: Qusqu
Ability: Son of the Sun – +10 combat strength on hills, +10 combat strength to units defending in friendly territory, receive a settler upon conquering a city
Agenda: Earth Shaker – dislikes civilizations that have lost cities to other civilizations, likes civilizations that have successfully withstood an attack or a siege on their cities

Leader 2: Huayna Capac
Capital: Qusqu
Ability: United Four Regions – may build a second palace in a city to make it a second capital, domestic trade routes provide +1 food for every farm or andén they go through
Agenda: Mother Qullqa – likes civilizations with many granaries and surplus food

 

[XVeris]

Civilization: The Osage



Unique Ability: People of the Middle Waters (Campuses, Holy Sites, and Theatre Squares receive a Major (+2) Adjacency bonus when built next to a River. Neighborhoods provide +1 Housing when built next to a River. Culture Bomb tiles when improving a Strategic Resource and Strategic Resources provide +2 Gold after reaching the Industrial Era.)

Unique Unit: Outrider (Replaces Ranger. Receives a free Promotion when built and gains 50% more experience in enemy lands.)

Unique Infrastructure: Bluestem Plot (Tile Improvement, available at Urbanization. Provides +2 Production and +1 Food. Grants +1 Food to adjacent Pastures, and acts as a Farm for Food adjacency bonuses. Must be built on Flat terrain.)

Leaders:

James Bigheart

Spoiler :

Capital: Pawhuska

Leader Ability: Councilman Chief (Campus Buildings are constructed 20% faster and provide +1 Housing. Citizens require one less Amenity than usual.)

Leader Agenda: Uniter of the Osage (Dislikes those who take the lands of others, and likes those who are peaceful and seek knowledge [Science].)

Black Dog

Spoiler :

Capital: Ho-tsa-Tun-ka (Big Cedar)

Leader Ability: Black Dog's Band (Land Military Units receive +25 Health and +1 Vision Range. Land Units receive +1 Movement when starting a turn on Flat terrain.)

• Their Health bars would read 125/125 instead of 100/100. The Osage were described by Geroge Catlin as "the tallest race of men in North America," with many of their warriors measuring 6 and a half to 7 feet tall.

Leader Agenda: Hunkah Chief (Applauds civilizations that defend their lands from invaders, but will be holistic towards cowards and aggressors). [Cowards meaning those who cede cities.]

​

I wanted to make a Native American Civ, but didn't want to pick one of the more popular choices (Shoshone, Sioux, Iroquois). The Osage seemed like an interesting choice.

Interesting note about Bigheart, he could speak Osage, Ponca, Creek, Sioux, Cherokee, French, English, and Latin fluently, so it could be interesting for him in Civ to speak those languages when addressing the player based on who the player is (Latin if Rome, English if America/Britain, French if France, etc.)

 

[Amrunril]

Unique Infrastructure: Bluestem Plot (Tile Improvement, available at Urbanization. Provides +2 Production and +1 Food. Grants +1 Food to adjacent Pastures, and acts as a Farm for Food adjacency bonuses. Must be built on Flat terrain.)

I'm very curious about the bluestem plot. I assume this refers to using Andropogon and/or Schizachyrium to support grazing livestock? Is there specific Osage history or cultural practice that you're referencing, or just the tallgrass prairie setting more generally?

The Urbanization requirement does seem out of place, unless there's something specific I'm missing. Prairie grasses grow pretty well on their own (Andropogon even has a tendency to crowd out rarer species in restorations), and plains dwellers were using fire to increase their productivity when they were, by game definitions, still in the ancient or classical era.

 

[XVeris]

I'm very curious about the bluestem plot. I assume this refers to using Andropogon and/or Schizachyrium to support grazing livestock? Is there specific Osage history or cultural practice that you're referencing, or just the tallgrass prairie setting more generally?

The Urbanization requirement does seem out of place, unless there's something specific I'm missing. Prairie grasses grow pretty well on their own (Andropogon even has a tendency to crowd out rarer species in restorations), and plains dwellers were using fire to increase their productivity when they were, by game definitions, still in the ancient or classical era.

It has to do with the resettlement of Native American tribes to Oklahoma. The Osage got the largest amount of land, but it was of the poorest quality, so farming crops was out of the question. However, the bluestem grass did grow there, and the Osage found it had massive nutritional benefits for cattle, and so they began growing the bluestem where they could and used it for cattle ranches.

As for it's placement in Urbanization, I wasn't really sure where to put it. Based on when they utilized bluestem in accordance to the above would place it somewhere in the early industrial era. The problem I had when researching the Osage was that there was not much historical information about them before the 1800s, when they came in contact with French and American pioneers. I couldn't find any structure of interest for their unique infrastructure, but something I did find most resources took note of was their cultivation of the bluestem grass for cattle after they were removed to Oklahoma.

 

[Amrunril]

It has to do with the resettlement of Native American tribes to Oklahoma. The Osage got the largest amount of land, but it was of the poorest quality, so farming crops was out of the question. However, the bluestem grass did grow there, and the Osage found it had massive nutritional benefits for cattle, and so they began growing the bluestem where they could and used it for cattle ranches.

As for it's placement in Urbanization, I wasn't really sure where to put it. Based on when they utilized bluestem in accordance to the above would place it somewhere in the early industrial era. The problem I had when researching the Osage was that there was not much historical information about them before the 1800s, when they came in contact with French and American pioneers. I couldn't find any structure of interest for their unique infrastructure, but something I did find most resources took note of was their cultivation of the bluestem grass for cattle after they were removed to Oklahoma.

I'd still be inclined to place it earlier in the tech tree. Use of bluestem for cattle grazing may not have happened until the the industrial era in the historical timeline, but that's not because it required industrial era technology or governmental organization. It's because the changes that made it advantageous (forced resettlement, extirpation of bison, introduction of cattle) happened to take place in that era. Moving it up to the early game would be entirely plausible historically, ant it would allow the improvement to have a much bigger gameplay role.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

Let me try with some of these. I have a lot to list but here is four now:
Malinese Empire (Mali)
Leader: Mansa Musa
Agenda: Lord of the Mines- Wants to have the most gold. Dislikes civilizations with more gold.
LA: Great Pilgrimage- +2 Science, +2 Faith, +2 Gold from international trade routes that follow the same religion as Mali.
UA: Mines of Mali- Building a mine gives extra gold, extra amenity on a luxury resource. Mines can be built on flat desert.
UU: Tong-Tingi (replaces Archer) Combat Strength when adjacent to cavalry units.
UI: Udubi Masjid (built on flat desert) Provides Faith. Extra Faith if built near Holy Site. Culture and Science in a city with a trading post. Tourism later on.

Ottoman Empire (Ottoman)
Leader: Suleiman
Agenda: The Magnificent Poet- Likes to produce more culture and Inspirations than anyone else.
LA: Ehl-i Hiref- Gains +1 ex GP Points for districts in cities. +2 Writers, Artists, Musicians GP.
UA: Corsair Navy- Defeated naval units can be captured by your own naval units, in formation with a Great Admiral or within range of one, turning them into Privateers and Great Admiral Points.
UU: Janissary (replaces Musketman) Heals when destroying an enemy unit
UD: Bazaar (replaces the Commercial Hub) Great Engineer and Merchant Points. Gold for luxury resources in city.

Korean Empire (Korea)
Leader: Sejong
Agenda: Innovative Leader- Likes to produce more science and Eurekas than anyone else.
LA: Jiphyeonjeon- Grants one random eureka every time a Seowon is built. Can produce the Hwacha UU.
UA: Hallyu- Culture and Tourism output are doubled when Mass Media is learned based off of Science output.
UU: Hwacha, Turtleship
UD: Seowon (replaces Campus) Automatic + 2 Science Adjacency bonus no matter where placed and +1 Faith. More Great Scientist Points per turn.

Dutch Empire (Dutch)
Leader: William Van Oranje
Agenda: Eighty Years War
Dislikes civilizations that occupy one of his cities or use religious units to remove religion from cities.
LA: The Silent- Naval combat units are invisible unless adjacent to it.
UA: Dutch East India Company- +1 Economic Policy slot in any government. +1 Gold for luxury resources in city states you are the suzerain of.
UU: East Indiaman (replaces Frigate)
UI: Polder (build on marsh or coastal land) Adds production, food, and gold.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

Here's four more for today.

Incan Empire (Inca)
Leader: Huayana Capac
Agenda: Tawantinsuyu- Wants to have the most roads and active trade routes to his Capital. Dislikes civilizations with more roads than him or active trade routes.
LA: Road to Quito- Domestic trade routes provide +1 food, production and gold. Roads on hills provide +1 more Movement.
UA: Andean Lifestyle- May build farm improvements on hill tiles. Can build districts faster on hills and mountains provide minor adjacency bonuses to Campus, Theatre Square, Holy Site, Commercial Hub and Industrial Zone.
UU: Huaraca Slingers (replaces Slinger) Stronger range attack.
UI: Andene- Must be built on hill next to mountain.

Babylonian Empire (Babylon)
Leader: Hammurabi
Agenda: Lawmaker- Likes to have a government with many social policies. Does not like civilizations who do not have enough social policies.
LA: Code of Hammurabi: Starts the game with Code of Laws Civic.
UA: Walls of Babylon: Cities can bombard when founded. Ancient Walls have the strength of Renaissance Walls.
UU: Bowman (replaces Archer) Stronger when garrisoned.
UB: Edubba (Replaces Library) more science than the library. Gain more money for receiving delegations.

Zulu Empire (Zulu)
Leader: Shaka
Agenda: Nwandwe-Zulu War- Dislikes civilizations that share a border with him. Likes civilizations that go to war with his neighbors or do not share borders.
LA: Bull Horn Formation- Combat units exert ZOC on units. Receive +5 combat strength when surrounding unit with a least 3 melee units.
UA: Zululand- Receive a free melee or ranged unit every time you clear a barbarian outpost or encounter a friendly tribal village.
UU: Impi (replaces Spearmen)
UD: Ikanda (replaces Encampment) +1 Production for every adjacent pasture.

Mongolian Empire (Mongolia)
Leader: Kublai Khan
Agenda: Yuan Dynasty - Likes warmongering civilizations that conquer cities and capitals. Dislikes peaceful civilizations or civilizations who have not captured a capital
LA: Silk Road Control- All conquered cities with a trading post gain extra gold. Gain Great Merchant points when you conquer a city with a trading post.
UA: Khanate- Calvary units receive +1 Movement. Great Generals passive abilities go out one extra tile.
UU: Keshik (replaces Knight) ranged unit heavy cavalry
UB: Ger-provides housing (replaces Stable). More combat strength for cavalry units and Keshik

 

[AnonymousSpeed]

@Alexander's Hetaroi
I like how Suleiman and Sejong have parallel agendas, parallels and pairs one of those things with an odd appeal to me.

Babylon's Edubba is cool, but I have to ask if the effect stacks, since you can build (and will build) many libraries.

The ability you gave Mongolia is actually really cool, I like that one a lot. I like the ideas in Kublai Khan's abilities too.

A few criticisms, though:
Seowon + Sejong's ability = Extreme brokeness

William's ability is a little too similar to Phillip II's, the bit about occupied cities is already a thing for everyone.

Random throwaway ideas:

Justinian I of Byzantium with the Agenda "Last of the Romans." He actually dislikes civilizations with his religion, he wants to conquer all the cities which have his religion, unite all of Christendom under one revived Roman empire. Not sure if that's the most historical but whatever, I think it's kinda interesting in terms of gameplay.


Sumer but @Zaarin likes it:

Spoiler :

Unique Ability: Cradle of Civilization

• Cities next to rivers receive an additional +2 Housing

Unique Unit: War Cart

• 25 Combat Strengths, 3 movement in all circumstances, vulnerable to Spearman, but otherwise the same

Unique Improvement: Ziggurat

• +1 Faith and +1 Science (+2 Science if adjacent to a river)

Leader: Ur-Nammu
Capital: Ur

Leader Ability: Code of Ur-Nammu

• +50% Production of Ancient Era buildings

Agenda: Who actually cares?

I had a dream at some point where Sumeria had that unique ability. I have weird dreams about civilization announcement trailers. I think this was actually before Sumeria was announced, but that's not too important, I just wanted to share.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

I figured something might be OP. Didn't think it would be Sejong, but Sueliman. I'm not sure how else I would give him Eurekas though since that was the whole point.
I kind of wanted to parallel William with Phillip because he is the person in history that he rebelled against (like Tomyris and Cyrus), but I understand that the wording might be a little off. Maybe he doesn't like civilizations that use religious units to completely remove other religions from cities including his own.
As for your idea about Byzantium I also made my own as well:
Byzantine Empire (Byzantium)
Leader: Basil II
Agenda: Father of the Army- Likes to have a large standing army and use it to expand his empire. Dislikes civilizations with weak armies and small empires.
LA: Varangian Guard: Gain a free melee unit when converting a foreign city to your religion with a promotion.
UA: Seven Ecumenical Councils- May change policy and government cards with purchasing of faith. Religious Art Slot in Temple.
UU: Dromon (replaces Quadrireme) damages adjacent naval units of target.
UI: Hippodrome (replaces the Arena) provides amenities from entertainment and more culture and amenities if built next to city center.
I do like the interesting agenda for Justinian though, almost want to change Basil's Agenda with this, but I don't think it would make sense historically. His agenda does sound like a combination of Cleopatra and Trajan though, so I don't know what else to do.
Better Sumer abilities for sure.

 

[Phrozen]

Dutch Empire

Leader: Johan De Witt
Agenda: States Faction. Wants to have the most trade routes. Dislikes civs that have more trade routes. Prefers economic warfare (tile and trade route pillaging) to taking cities.
LUA: Raid on the Medway. During war the Dutch get +4 Great Admiral points per turn and the Dutch are granted a ship when they pillage a harbor district.
UA: Fluyts. Dutch trade routes that cross ocean get +2 gold and grant half an amenity when going to a city-state or another civilization. Trading posts are completed in half time. Harbors and commercial hubs get standard adjacency bonuses from polders.
UI: Polders: May be built on marshes, flood plains, or coast where one hex side is land. +2 food. +1 gold with economics. +1 production with Industrialization. Unlocked with Machinery.
UU: VOC Infantry. Replaces Musketman. May be purchased at a discount in city-states you are suzerain of and have a trading post in. +5 combat strength when fighting within two tiles of a city the Dutch have a trading post in.

 

[N7Zebracakes]

Venice

UA: Serenissima

• Cannot found new cities.
  
  
• +GPT for Commercial and Harbor districts.
  
  
• Commercial+Harbor adjacency provides +Culture.
  
  
• Harbor and Commercial districts provide twice the number of trade routes, each district improvement provides additional routes.
  
  
• Can purchase districts with Merchant of Venice. If no districts can be purchased, convert into Gold. District cap is not limited
  
  
• May purchase units/buildings of cities a trade route is currently established with, depending on districts present in that city.
  
  
• Earns envoys at +33%
  
  
• City center starts with ancient walls
  

Unique Unit: Great Galleass

• Basically the same as Civ 5

Unique District: Rialto

• Must be adjacent to City Center
  
  
• Provides +points for Merchant of Venice (no idea what it would be based on. One per era+once when 50% of era tech civics have been researched? One spawns when envoys are earned?)
  
  
• Provides +1 copy of unique resources within civ borders.
  

 

[AnonymousSpeed]

As for your idea about Byzantium I also made my own as well:

I like the whole "Not Using Justinian" thing, since I'm all about those new faces.
Hippodrome is a decent building choice, but since there's only one of them I'm not sure how much I support it. A more interesting effect might be a super dumbed down Coliseum / early zoo, with a much smaller culture and amenity boost to cities within 6 tiles.
It's an interesting take on the Varangian Guard as well, I kind of like it.

For a more complete idea of how I was thinking of making Byzantium under Basil II, you can click here.

I do like the interesting agenda for Justinian though, almost want to change Basil's Agenda with this, but I don't think it would make sense historically. His agenda does sound like a combination of Cleopatra and Trajan though, so I don't know what else to do.

Yeah, admittedly I don't like that part, especially since Basil's empire, while it reclaimed a lot of territory, wasn't all that large in civ terms.

Harbors and commercial hubs get standard adjacency bonuses from polders.

This is a neat effect, I like the idea of districts getting adjacency from a unique improvement so the player can min-max the bonus more. I'm not sure if this execution of Polders is the best way to execute that idea (since you don't have a ton of freedom on where you can place them but few restrictions beyond that, which mitigates the min-maxing you can do with it).

Venice

Interesting. I actually quite liked City State Venice in Civ5, I'd be glad to see a return to that idea.
Did you have a leader in mind?
With how Great People work, I'm not entirely sure if unique great people would function in Civ6, to be honest.

 

[Morningcalm]

Just a random comment on Byzantium--Basil II with the Varangian Guard unique unit would be cool; especially in terms of designing an ability for the Guard that differentiates it from the Berserker. Given that many Norsemen joined the Guard to gain wealth, something like gold from conquered cities and units might work. (Could also synergize with the stalwart, spartan-lifestyle of the Macedonian Basil II, who kept a full imperial treasury and scorned wealth and scholasticism for himself). The Varangian Guard would be a welcome historical inclusion too since Byzantium at large has a long history of using mercenaries and foreign soldiers (including Goths commanded by Belisarius and Huns commanded by Mondous, grandson of Attila, to kill Nika Rioters).

Though Basil II might work for Civ VI, I'm a big fan of Justinian (ambitious dreamer) and Theodora (a once-courtesan who nevertheless had much actual religious concern, and one of the few female rulers that really could make sense as a sole ruler, given that, like Amanitore and Dyah Gitarja, she co-ruled capably).

Re: a potential agenda for Justinian, I don't necessarily think wanting to conquer those with his religion would work gameplay wise. It would mean he hates those who spread different religions and those who he spreads religion too, and if Byzantium is to vie for a religious victory (which she should), then there needs to be some positive for having his religion and following it (historically, Justinian frequently fought on-Christians, also liked having Christian allies, which included efforts to create an alliance with Amalasuntha, an Arian Christian Gothic queen with Roman virtues).

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

I like the whole "Not Using Justinian" thing, since I'm all about those new faces.
Hippodrome is a decent building choice, but since there's only one of them I'm not sure how much I support it. A more interesting effect might be a super dumbed down Coliseum / early zoo, with a much smaller culture and amenity boost to cities within 6 tiles.
It's an interesting take on the Varangian Guard as well, I kind of like it.

For a more complete idea of how I was thinking of making Byzantium under Basil II, you can click here.

I like the idea of the basilica as that was my first option, but it felt more like it could go to a Renaissance Italy instead. But now that I think about it, it makes since and I like your idea better while taking off a religious art slot in temple and put it with the basilica. As for the agenda maybe it would be better if he tries to have the largest army and will dislike anyone who does have a larger army than him. I don't know why I didn't think of that in the first place.

 

[AnonymousSpeed]

Re: a potential agenda for Justinian, I don't necessarily think wanting to conquer those with his religion would work gameplay wise. It would mean he hates those who spread different religions and those who he spreads religion too, and if Byzantium is to vie for a religious victory (which she should), then there needs to be some positive for having his religion and following it (historically, Justinian frequently fought on-Christians, also liked having Christian allies, which included efforts to create an alliance with Amalasuntha, an Arian Christian Gothic queen with Roman virtues).

I would disagree. Justinian is most famous for his legal reforms and for retaking huge tracks of formerly Roman territory, so a domination victory seems most fitting for him (though I did personally imagine Byzantium as a more all-rounder).
Not every civilization needs to have such high "u r diferent religion denunce u" flavors (I am assuming flavors as well as Agendas are in play here), and one civilization who approaches religious diplomacy in a totally different way would be fine. It would also give the darn Crusade belief some frickin' use.
Lastly, Agendas don't need to be 100% accurate to the leader's actions. Yeah, Trajan likes big empires, but he also went to war with the pretty big Parthian Empire and, though I'm not an expert on his life, probably didn't beat up every little guy he saw.

I like the idea of the basilica as that was my first option, but it felt more like it could go to a Renaissance Italy instead. But now that I think about it, it makes since and I like your idea better while taking off a religious art slot in temple and put it with the basilica. As for the agenda maybe it would be better if he tries to have the largest army and will dislike anyone who does have a larger army than him. I don't know why I didn't think of that in the first place.

Eh, I was never entirely sure of my infrastructure for Byzantium, to be honest.
I personally don't feel that agenda is very interesting, but hey, they can't all be winners.

 

[N7Zebracakes]

Interesting. I actually quite liked City State Venice in Civ5, I'd be glad to see a return to that idea.
Did you have a leader in mind?
With how Great People work, I'm not entirely sure if unique great people would function in Civ6, to be honest.

This was actually copied from an old reddit post from shortly after the Civ6 launch. In hindsight, I think they're much better suited as a powerful CS for this game, despite how much I loved them as a Civ in 5. My love for them makes me want to make them unique and powerful, so as a City State:

• Venice cannot have a Suzerain. Instead, each envoy generates points per turn for a Merchant of Venice, a unique unit that allows several functions. Only 3 MoV available per era.
  • Merchant of Venice can found a Rialto district in a city. Rialto must be adjacent to a city center, provides an extra trade route (+1 more per era since founded), and +1 adjacency bonus for any adjacent districts. Provides +Great Admiral points for adjacent harbours.
  • Merchant of Venice can levy a CS military that you are suzerain of, or is neutral, without your own funds.
  • Merchant of Venice can purchase a Great Person of 1000 G or less

That out of the way, if they WERE a leader, a few aspects of my original post would need to be modified, I feel like. Civ6 just is not suited for a tall playstyle.

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

Assyrian Empire (Assyria)
Leader: Ashurbanipal
Agenda: Collector-Loves to acquire more Great Works than any other player. Dislikes civilizations who acquire more Great Works than him.
LA: Royal Library-Provides an extra slot of Great work at the palace and libraries gain a great work of writing slot. Combat strength against opponent if they have great work.
UA: Iron Age Warfare- Iron is revealed at the beginning of the game. Only one copy of a strategic resource is required to produce a unit.
UU: Siege Engine- (Replaces the battering ram) Has abilities of both Battering Ram and Siege Tower.
UI: Lamassu- Provides faith and gold. Combat strength when adjacent to city center and to all units who pass it.

Iroquois Empire (Iroquois)
Leader: Jigonhsasee
Agenda: Mother of Nations- Likes to be allied to as much civilizations as possible. Dislikes civilizations who will not want to make an alliance.
LA: Peace Gathering-May make an alliance with another power at Political Philosophy. Receives major warmonger penalties when declaring war but may make peace faster.
UA: Deohako- Farms provide extra food if 3 built are adjacent to each other starting with Irrigation. Woods also provide extra food.
UU: Mohawk Scout (replaces Scout) Has ranger promotion at start. More combat strength.
UI: Longhouse- +3 Housing and gain an envoy when built.

Mayan Empire (Maya)
Leader: Pakal
Agenda: Ajaw- Likes civilizations who produce much faith along with science.
LA: Inscription Temples- Temples can hold a great work of writing slot that also provides science when writing is researched.
UA: High Priesthood- Defeated units provide faith. Holy Site Specialists provide science as well.
UU: Atlatlist (replaces Archer)
UB: Triadic Pyramid (replaces Shrine) provides extra faith as well as science when Holy Site is next to rainforest.

Portuguese Empire (Portugal)
Leader: Joao II
Agenda: Discoverer- Likes to be the first to reveal new areas of the map and control most water tiles. Dislike Civs who reveal more of the map than him and control more water.
LA: The Navigator Nephew- Naval units cost less to build and receive +1 movement. Reconnaissance units get double experience.
UA: Mare Clausum- Trade routes in your borders cannot be pillaged even on water. Culture bomb when a Feitora is built.
UU: Nau (replaces Caravel) Has greater sight. Produces gold when built.
UI: Feitora- Built on Coastal Water. Yields Gold and Production for every adjacent luxury resource. + 4 Fortified Strength.

I thought about it and edited Joao's agenda to make it not as redundant as the hidden agenda explorer.

 

[Phrozen]

I
This is a neat effect, I like the idea of districts getting adjacency from a unique improvement so the player can min-max the bonus more. I'm not sure if this execution of Polders is the best way to execute that idea (since you don't have a ton of freedom on where you can place them but few restrictions beyond that, which mitigates the min-maxing you can do with it).

That is the terrain where Polders are made since they are recovered land with dikes and windmill Archimedes screws acting as pumps. They are able to be built on the Dutch preferred start location, coasts and turn otherwise not great tiles into decent ones. I see the Dutch as the premier economic civ from the mid-game on establishing trading posts through the world and using their UU to defend their city state allies or use their city state allies as a staging ground for an invasion of another civ.