B-Tier Civs
Civs in the B-tier aren’t as powerful as the ones above, but they do well enough in their own right. They have no major flaws yet no major strengths either. Civilization VI: Gathering Storm has Sweden under this category.
Sweden (Kristina)
In the preliminary tier list, I considered Sweden a B-tier civ. That hasn’t changed even with multiple playthroughs. You’re going for a Cultural Victory which means your playstyle isn’t likely to differ from Franleanor’s. What sets Franleanor apart is that she can pump out wonders easily in the mid-game while staying ahead in civics by way of Chateaus. Sweden? Well, not so much.
Kristina’s Open-Air Museums will help, as does the instant theming bonuses for certain buildings, but these will capture new cities like Eleanor’s ability. Kristina’s main strength, however, is her generation of Diplomatic Favor. Focusing on earning Great People means getting loads of Diplomatic Favor, along with extra points towards Great Engineers and Great Scientists. Everything you do slightly aid you no matter which way you try to build a city.
Sweden gets easy wins in the Diplo game via upvotes and downvotes, and the Nobel Prize competitions. Unfortunately, the Diplo game can easily be ignored.
The downside is that the Diplomatic Victory in Gathering Storm takes egregiously long and the results aren’t too game-changing. In our official review, I felt that the mechanics detracted from the game as a whole. It’s true that Kristina will likely get proposals passed, and she’ll even get points easily. One of the Nobel Prize competitions is as simple as “generate Diplomatic Favor.” Sadly, you (or the AI) would end up winning the game by other means before you lead the World Congress.
Victory Type: Culture; Diplomatic, only if you really want to prolong your game.
Additional Tips:
- Tech: This will depend on surrounding features.
- Civics: Drama and Poetry for your Theater Square. Later on, Nationalism will let you build Open-Air Museums.
- Governors: Pingala is a prime candidate so you can keep generating Great People.
- Religion: Divine Spark is mandatory.
- Wonders: The Great Library and Apadana both have slots for Great Works. You also gain the theming bonuses as part of Sweden’s ability. The Oracle is a must to grab Great People.
Of course, watch the Queen’s Bibliotheque blow everything out of the water.
C-Tier Civs
The rest of Civilization VI: Gathering Storm’s new civs and leaders are C-tier at best. They aren’t “bad,” per se. It’s just that their unique attributes either don’t mesh well or they’re completely situational. That, or the fact that other civs are better choices.
England (Eleanor of Aquitaine)
Unlike her twin that leads France, Eleanor’s England, or “Engleanor” is hampered by the lack of two unique perks. You’ll lose your Chateus and wonder generation in the mid-game. Instead, that’s replaced by England’s “Workshop of the World.” It gives you extra iron and coal resources and boosts the production and charges of Military Engineers. Yes, Military Engineers! You remember them, right? Those support units that everyone seems to forget about?
Engleanor still retains the “Court of Love” leader trait which lets her flip cities. Sadly, gone are France’s perks that let her compete with Deity AI in culture and tourism generation. England’s old “British Museum” trait (Archaeologist boosts) is also gone. But hey, at least you’ve got Royal Navy Dockyards, Sea Dogs, and Military Engineers, right?
Victory Type: Cultural
Additional Tips:
- Franleanor’s and Engleanor’s playstyles are the same, except the latter is gimped in terms of culture and tourism generation.
- However, you could explore the seas with your navy, so there’s that.
Phoenicia (Dido)
Originally, I thought Dido would make for an A-tier civ leader simply because of how “gamey” her mechanics were. Unfortunately, experience became the best teacher and it’s led me to see her flaws. Dido just isn’t competitive compared to a number of other new leaders in Civilization VI: Gathering Storm.
Phoenicia’s Cothons are still the crux of your empire. Build them, churn out those settlers, and start planting cities everywhere. The problem is that once you do have those cities, you don’t have any specific strength that powers you through any victory type. Unlike the Ottomans, you’re still going to find Domination challenging. Unlike the Inca, you’re going to lag behind population and production. Maori and Mali will also trump you. The good thing is that your coastal cities are immune to Eleanor’s loyalty flip mechanic, but that’s it.
It helps out immensely if you spawn at the border of two continents as opposed to the next continent located several turns away.
A prime reason why I considered her a strong civ in the preliminary tier list was because of how you could “game” Gathering Storm’s system with the Casa de Contratacion wonder plus the Colonial Taxes policy. With both, you should see a massive boost to your cities in other continents after you switch your capital. That wasn’t a clear-cut case in my playthroughs. Since the wonder only helps cities with a governor, not every settlement you have gains a benefit. I was already lagging behind, and improving my cities took a while. Switching my capital actually led to a drop in overall yields.
Victory Type: None. Although Phoenicia leans more towards a Domination game via its navy or just having more cities to produce units.
Additional Tips:
- Tech: Celestial Navigation for your Cothon, then Cartography for Casa de Contratacion.
- Civics: You’ll need policies to get the most out of cities once you switch your capital to a city on another continent. Colonial Offices (Exploration) and Colonial Taxes (Colonialism) help out a lot. Policies that help in making more settlers or provide food for growth are also helpful.
- Governors: Magnus is great for producing settlers without worrying about the population loss. Reyna’s also decent for extra gold from your Cothons and Commercial Districts. To get the most out of Casa de Contratacion, you’ll probably end up recruiting every governor to assign them in cities.
- Religion: God of the Sea due to your coastal cities.
My output actually dropped when I switched capitals given that my newest city wasn’t as good as the original one.
Canada (Wilfrid Laurier)
Although Canada has bonuses to Diplomatic Favor generation (per 100 Tourism, 100% bonus from competitions or emergencies), Sweden will still outpace it most of the time. Remember that scored competitions and emergencies happen infrequently, and you’re not always likely to win — unless it’s the one where you just need to provide gold, which the AI seems to ignore. Having said that, the same problems when going for a Diplomatic Victory also plague Canada.
As for the Cultural game, Canada will take a long while to get going. Your biggest source of Tourism comes from your Ice Hockey Rinks (Industrial Era). Even then, the Maori are likely to generate more by way of natural surroundings. France led by Eleanor, and possibly Sweden, will also outpace you.
Hurray! We have hockey! Hurray, eh?
It doesn’t help matters that your bias leads you to settle on tundra tiles. They’re arguably the worst possible terrain in the game even in Gathering Storm. Only Russia gains a boatload of benefits and you’re not going to be on their level as Canada. Compare this to Mali’s desert bias, and Canada doesn’t really have anything from the get-go that boosts faith or gold. You could try settling somewhere else, but that means foregoing a number of perks that Canada has that are intrinsic to tundra tiles.
What exactly is Canada’s strength? It might be the fact that the AI can’t declare surprise wars which is helpful on higher difficulties. Then again, you’re likely to go to war once they start denouncing you for random reasons. This trait — which also prevents you from declaring surprise wars or wars versus city-states — can also be detrimental.
Victory Type: Culture; Diplomatic, if you really want to prolong your game
Additional Tips:
- Tech: Take Mining if there are nearby strategic resources on tundra. Civil Engineering lets you build farms on tundra hills because, uh, you forgot to put mines?
- Civics: Is there a civic that makes you pick another faction to play as?
- Governors: If you’re on tundra tiles, then Magnus is your best bet for those chops, food generation, and population protection when making settlers.
- Religion: Dance of the Aurora is a safe bet.
- Wonders: St. Basil’s Cathedral will help you in the mid-game as it boosts tundra yields.
It would’ve been easy to capture this extra settler (I was also a suzerain of the city-state). But because I cannot declare Surprise Wars, I had to look on despondently as my neighbor forward-settled next to my cities.
Your Gathering Storm Tier List
That about does it for our Civilization VI: Gathering Storm tier list. As mentioned earlier, your experiences and playthrough might differ from mine. This is generally for Immortal or Deity games versus the AI.
It’s also worth noting that the expansion has only been out for a few days. There might be patches that would balance out certain mechanics. These could lead to certain civs getting knocked down a peg or two. At the very least, we hope that this helps you out in your Civilization VI: Gathering Storm matches.
