[GS] Trying to figure out a way to play "weak" - Small and Short, just like it was possible in Civ V

[Bliss]

Back in CIV V you could not only play Tall, but also Small/Short due to International Trade Routes.

In Civ V international trade routes allowed you to become a real commercial hub (Venice, anyone??), you could send multiple caravans to close neighbors with it also serving to discourage aggressive enemies against declaring war on you (because they had their share of profit from foreign trade routes) and all this while having minimal cities and population. It didn't matter if you had 15 cities or 2, with 40 population or 10. You would advance in the tech tree the same and unlock the same amount of trade routes. You could even buy all the City States and have "diplomatic influence" even while having poor general yields (but good gold).

Coming forward to Civ VI, I know the meta changed a lot to playing wide (because of districts and adjacency bonuses), but I also know that you can turtle up and play tall 5-6 cities (some nice Korea/Brazil plays like this) and have a profitable game. However, since trade routes capacity is now tied to how large the empire is, I feel like you can't anymore become a money powerhouse while trying to play tight (small and short), because you will necessarily have less gold because you have less trade routes (even when assuming the wider empires are all focusing on domestic trade routes).

Based on all of this I wanna ask you guys if there are any bizzarre approach that I'm not aware of, that is doable in Civ VI and that could ressemble anything like playing "small and short".

Currently, we have some tools given by the game that maybe could lead us into such foggy path. I want you to please consider them and share any opinions you have related to the matter:

We have City State quests that ARE NOT tied to any kind of yield generation;
We have Envoy Generation that is not related to yield generation, but we also have envoys unlocked with social policies;
We have Foreign Ministry building, that no one seems to care but seems to favor weak civilizations;
We have Religion, that in theory can be easily achievable by the mere rush of a single district in the very early game.
We have Diplomatic Victory (GS) that favors suckering behavior (ignore the propposals that favors you the most and vote for the interest of civilizations that, just like you, have a lot of favor generation).
We have Strategic Resources accumulation mechanic (GS) that favors the dynamic of selling stuff to other civilizations, thus, generating surplus of GOLD.
We have Entertainment Districts, that could allow you to sell otherwise necessary Luxury Resources to other civilizations;

 

[Bliss]

On a side note, I feel like Tundra starts kinda off got this role in a way:
You are not surrounded by civilizations, what allows you to focus on peaceful play (culture, religion,, diplomatic points), and because you will more likely have excessive strategic resources, that means a lot of trading gold coming to your pocket. And, of course, because your terrain and yields are not optimal, other Leaders do not covet your lands.

I had some Canada games that allowed me to become a "puppet master", but I'm more interested in acknowledging if it is possible to do so in more unsafe scenarios.

 

[bbbt]

Well the Civ 5 Venice approach was also due to the general weakness/non-aggressive nature of the AI. There's a reason it was automatic reroll in multiplayer.

In Civ 6, maybe Mali or Carthage, due to their additional bonus trade routes from golden ages and the government plaza respectively?


Actually, there's a big one: pillaging can reap tons of rewards in Civ 6. A Hungary game where you basically suzerain city states, use their troops to pillage (and capture cities and trade them back for gold in peace deals) - hiring CS troops also gives you envoys for Hungary. Could be used for Diplo, or science, as with Reyna you could buy the necessary districts with gold and rush projects with builders. Norway would also be a good (or better) candidate as they still get science/culture from pillaging.

 

[Bliss]

Well the Civ 5 Venice approach was also due to the general weakness/non-aggressive nature of the AI. There's a reason it was automatic reroll in multiplayer.

In Civ 6, maybe Mali or Carthage, due to their additional bonus trade routes from golden ages and the government plaza respectively?


Actually, there's a big one: pillaging can reap tons of rewards in Civ 6. A Hungary game where you basically suzerain city states, use their troops to pillage (and capture cities and trade them back for gold in peace deals) - hiring CS troops also gives you envoys for Hungary. Could be used for Diplo, or science, as with Reyna you could buy the necessary districts with gold and rush projects with builders. Norway would also be a good (or better) candidate as they still get science/culture from pillaging.

I like the idea that pillaging could indeed play a important role on such "rat" strategy, however it comes with the cost of of worsening diplomacy. You might end up luring enemies against you. Maybe we are looking into 2 different unorthodox strategies: one which consists of pillaging/bargain warmongering, with good trade deals and repeated declarations of war, and the other one which you convince your enemies that your existence actually is profitable, and that possibly comes by trade alone.

Edit: about CSs, one thing that I think is underrated by a lot of players is the access they give us to luxuries and strategic resources that could be somehow better used by players. And about Mali and Carthage I need to check out their UA.

 

[Victoria]

@Bliss are you aware you can win on deity with just one city?
There are threads on OCC here but also potato Mcwhiskey did a YouTube so you can see how to do it... SV in his case.
All victories can be won like this as long as you have some rule covering how captured capitals are dealt with.

 

[Bliss]

@Bliss are you aware you can win on deity with just one city?
There are threads on OCC here but also potato Mcwhiskey did a YouTube so you can see how to do it... SV in his case.
All victories can be won like this as long as you have some rule covering how captured capitals are dealt with.

Yes! I learned it recently, however, I feel like OCC victories happen too much thanks to the weak AI. Of course to some extent, every player victory is only possible due to this lol, but I was wondering if there is any unexplored underdog way of winning the game (DiploV or RV, of course).

I recall reading this specific thread back when I used to play Civ V and it really opened my mind to new things: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/a-guide-to-playing-“small”-on-deity-feat-piety.521674/

 

[Victoria]

I recall reading this specific thread back when I used to play Civ V and it really opened my mind to new things:

V and VI are quite different beasts and the general strategy in VI is to fall behind early anyway.
Yes there are strategies along similar lines, like just using rock bands for a CV and an RV you can win with just a few cities.
CV and RV benefit from speed so are good contenders for such an approach.