A-Tier Civs
A-tier civs are useful for a variety of victory conditions and work well in most situations. The synergy among uniques is great. The best way to describe them would be “highly consistent” with hardly any weaknesses. Civilization VI: Gathering Storm has several of these.
Mali (Mansa Musa)
I’ve considered Mali an S-Tier civ due to unmatched faith and gold generation. They’ve since gotten knocked down a peg simply because of how unreliable some starts can be. Your seed will always play a huge factor given that you’ll need:
- A decent source of food to increase population early on; a little hard to find in deserts
- Enough desert hills to build mines; lots of gold but stunted production
- Enough flat desert tiles to add bonus gold for foreign trade routes
- A nearby civ you’re at peace with or lots of city-states for those trade routes
- A nearby Wonder on the desert could help out
The above means that Mali’s location can easily make or break your playthrough. They have a fairly slow start in that regard. However, once you do get the ball rolling, they become nearly unstoppable. Your unique perks mean early pantheons/religion and massive gold generation.
It’s imperative that you play a peaceful game since you need those foreign trade routes, all while sending your missionaries and apostles to do the work for you. Also, try to gain as many Golden Ages as possible to get extra trade routes. Later on, once you gain more gold and even cost/purchase reduction policies, you can even opt for a Domination victory by buying as many units as you can.
Well, now, speaking of lucky starts with Mali.
Victory Type: Religious; Domination
Additional Tips:
- Tech: Get Mining and beeline Currency for the Suguba
- Civics: Foreign Trade for your first trade route; State Workforce and Early Empire to get Magnus.
- You probably wouldn’t need those “chops,” but you’re more likely to need him for the bonus food and for settlers to not use up the population. Later, consider getting Moksha if you’re on the defensive in your Religion battles. Otherwise, take Reyna for more gold.
- Religion: Desert Folklore; pick the Gurdwara building (extra food) to help your cities immensely.
- Wonders: Petra is an absolute necessity
- If Nazca’s in your game, enjoy the benefits of extra faith by way of Nazca Line improvements. However, your focus should be on Trade city-states for the most part.
- If Ngazargamu (Militaristic city-state) is in the game, take Democracy as your government and have some Encampment buildings. Enjoy your free units (seen below).
You already have insane gold generation, but why not have free units? Here’s a crazy strat courtesy of Reddit user Gorshin07.
Maori (Kupe)
If you thought Mali had a slow start that relies a bit on RNG, then you haven’t seen Kupe’s Maori yet. Starting in ocean tiles, Kupe needs to find a decent spot to settle. Decent here means:
- Having multiple sea resources to maximize your fishing boat yields
- Having multiple woods and rainforests (enough to keep them unimproved for extra production)
- Having those woods, rainforests, marshes, and reefs so they count as “passable features” once you build your Marae
- Not accidentally going ashore and realizing that the surrounding area is terrible for expansion and growth, or you’re right next to aggressive leaders
Maori spawns in the ocean even in later start eras.
In higher difficulties, Kupe’s got a lot of catching up to do, and you might need a few restarts. Like Mali, once you find a decent corner of the world, it all snowballs from there. Your Marae will generate culture, faith, and tourism from the environment, and the Mana unique perk does the same for production. The Toa helps if you need to go on the offensive, and building a Paa helps when you’re playing defensively.
Victory Type: Culture
Additional Tips:
- Tech: Your early-game techs will depend on the resources surrounding you. Once you’re in the clear, beeline Flight to get 150 to 200+ Tourism based on your territory’s passable features.
- Civics: Get Drama and Poetry so you can build a Marae as soon as possible. Don’t forget to take Conservation later on to gain bonus production yields from unimproved features. Also, you can plant second-growth woods on tiles that have outlived their usefulness.
- Governors: You’re not earning Great Writers, and you’re less likely to chop down forests. That means Pingala and Magnus aren’t your main choices. Given that you’ll have lots of unimproved features, consider Reyna for the extra gold. Grab Pingala later once you’re able to generate Great Artists or Great Musicians.
- Religion and City-States: Consider those that provide culture benefits since you’ll be playing the culture/tourism game. As for your pantheon, God of the Sea is a mandatory pick.
Maori’s tourism yields before and after researching flight.
Inca (Pachacuti)
Pachacuti does not have a clear victory type in mind. What he has, though, is sheer, unbridled city growth. With your Terrace Farms, Mit’a, and Qhapaq Nan perks, you’re looking at cities exceeding 20 population. What this means is that you’ll have so many citizens and specialists — production, science, gold, and the like. Since the Inca also have a mountain start bias, you’ll have easily defensible positions due to natural choke points. Beware, though, that your mountain tunnels can be used by enemies.
There really isn’t much to say about the playstyle for the Inca since it revolves around building as many Terrace Farms as possible and finding lots of hills and mountains to maximize your yields. They’re an A-Tier civ simply because you have more leeway to choose how your game progresses, all while enjoying your natural fortresses.
Pachacuti’s playstyle is simple: More farms = more fun!
Victory Type: None — although you can go for Science (mountain adjacency bonuses; relatively defensive-oriented game) or Domination (production of units)
Additional Tips:
- Tech and Civics: Builders, lots and lots of builders; anything that lets you have more builders and charges helps.
- Governors: Assuming you’ve settled cities near volcanoes, then Liang’s promotion can help mitigate the devastation.
- Religion: Earth Goddess (if you can get it), since being surrounded by mountains will make your tiles more appealing. Since you’ll have sprawling cities, get Tithe for extra gold.
- Wonders: Machu Picchu, of course! Petra is also great for production.
Who woulda thunk it? The Incan wonder is amazing for the Incan civ.
France (Eleanor of Aquitaine)
Thanks to Reddit user Seelingcat, I’ve started calling France led by Eleanor as simply “Franleanor.” What exactly makes her an A-Tier civ? Well, it’s simple, really. I call it “Passive Domination,” and no, that’s not something you hear from a dominatrix convention.
Normally, taking cities offensively nets you diplomatic hits, even converting them can lead to emergencies. In Eleanor’s case, you can play a peaceful, passive game where your Great Works will do your conquests for you. That’s because of the Court of Love mechanic which flips nearby cities depending on the number of Great Works you have. More Great Works means more loyalty being lost by opposing civs per turn. The AI happily forward-settles near your territory as well, actually helping you win the game.
Scythia’s empire would fall, not from muskets or cannons, but from cool watercolor paintings and nude statues.
Since they lose cities due to the loyalty flip mechanic, the AI just stares dumbfoundedly without resorting to aggression. It can take a while, but when it does happen, the flip creates a nearly unstoppable domino effect.
“Franleonor” gains the perks that France had (save for Catherine de Medici’s espionage bonuses. This means increased production for later era wonders, along with the Chateau improvement. A challenge that players are doing now is going for world domination… all without capturing a single city with your military.
Who run the world? This girl right here. Or, as we say in our traditional Filipino greeting: “Haba ng hair, nag-Rejoice ka na ba, girl?”
Victory Type: Culture
Additional Tips:
- Tech: This will depend on surrounding features.
- Civics: Drama and Poetry for your Theater Square; don’t forget to grab Humanism later for those Art Museums and the all-important Chateaus.
- Governors: Pingala all the way. Get your Great Writers early on and start plopping cities near other civs. Just make sure you have what it takes to defend them.
- Religion: Divine Spark is mandatory. Take Cathedrals so you gain an extra Great Work slot.
- Wonders: The Oracle is a must to grab Great People.
These are, for me, the A-Tier factions in Civilization VI: Gathering Storm. Let’s take a look at the rest of the pack.
