Science was king in Civ 5. So what is king in Civ 6?

[KrikkitTwo]

Production...science actually hurts your economy by making districts cost more

 

[VirtuallyJesse]

Everyone seems to be in agreeance that production rules. I would argue that trade (commerce/harbor) is second over science. In my latest game I had 18 internal trade routes all providing massive food, hammers, and gold. This leads to more production and population, which then can be used for an easy science victory - especially when all trade routes are stacked into one city for the space race projects.

 

[rpgalon]

I don't even build farms anymore, traders are the only thing that keeps my population fed, all my worked tiles are mines and lumber mills.

 

[mindzor]

Production, but you need good Territory so you can snowball that way.

 

[Qoce]

I don't think either of these are too abstract, and both have concrete mechanics that integrate them into the game.

Population is mechanically grounded by food, housing, and amenities. All else equal, is it more important to ramp up your production (or science or faith etc) or keep your cities growing by securing amenities and building adequate housing? That's not an abstract question.

Territory is the turf you're sitting on. Is it more important to secure more cities and tiles or to spend your food and production on other things? How important are specific plots of land? Worth securing vs other priorities like building traders or districts? This is especially relevant with districts, which completely remove the tile's base yield from the game. Especially mid-late game, you're definitely going to have to figure out how to balance development with workable tiles in your cities. That said, if you have more territory, that's less of an issue – and that's a big reason why you might build a settler before a campus or buy a couple key tiles before upgrading your units.

Population's value exists entirely through what they produce, which are all the other things on this list. So while I feel population is very important, it is only important because it is used to produce the other resources.To answer your question about focusing on growth or production, I would think about it in terms of the resources that the population gives me. Will the resources my new pops give me be worth having temporarily lower production? Comparing population to production feels to me like the same jump of comparing production to units.

But fair enough, I suppose I was trying to keep the question simple. I change my answer to population. All of these factors indirectly effect each other in some way, but population directly effects virtually everything else on the list. Of course its not black and white and there are exceptions, but ultimately a high population city with at least decent land will be able to produce the other resources. I also think that population is king in Civ 5, for the same reasons.

 

[Ornen]

Population's value exists entirely through what they produce, which are all the other things on this list. So while I feel population is very important, it is only important because it is used to produce the other resources.

But this applies to many of the things on this list! Production's value exists entirely though what it enables you to do, which include all the other things on this list. Gold's value is what you can buy, which is nearly everything on this list. Science in Civ 5 was so damn strong because it enabled you to do everything else in the game – that's why the devs nerfed it by adding the culture tree and eureka boosts.

 

[isau]

If observations are to be believed, science and culture literally penalize hammers.

 

[Nefelia]

It really is situational. No one can discount the power of production, but depending on civ and geography, there may be a 'currency' that overshadows production.

In Civ V, I prioritized financial prowess over science. I would usually lag in science and eventually catch up in the modern age, but it was my ability to purchase workers, settlers, and troops that allowed me to expand so quickly and without fear of military reprisal: the ability to purchase walls/castles/etc and troops in every city near a threatened frontier was game-changing.

For Civ VI, my currency of choice has shifted over to faith. Theocracy guarantees the ability to purchase troops with faith anywhere within your empire, and with the right policy cards, I can have Lavras in every city pumping out up to 36 faith each turn.

One can also purchase Great People with faith, and with the right belief, you can purchase some districts as well.

Of course, this may not work as well for civ other than Russia. I feel that I have been spoiled a fair bit with Peter.