Civilization 6 (Switch) Beginners Guide 3: a look at the Leaders

This week in the Beginners Guide part 3, we are going to take a look at the Civilizations and their Leaders. What are their Leader Bonuses are and what the Civilization unique abilities are. And what each of them means in your quest for victory. Each leader also has an Agenda which is their likes and dislikes. They also have a Hidden Agenda that is assigned at the beginning of each game. To find out their Hidden Agenda you have to gain their trust via trading and delegations or by spying.

If you like these weekly beginners’ tips, you can find them all under Civilization 6 Beginners Guide. 

Some leaders in Civilization are more equipped for a religious victory or a domination victory than others. This is how you can choose a leader for the type of victory you are aiming for. I say aiming for as we all know these things don’t always go to plan with a Civilization game and sometimes you have to change your strategy in the middle of a game.

The English Empire: Victoria

Let’s take a look at Queen Victoria:
Leader Bonus: Pax Britannica : All cities founded on a continent other than your home continent receive a free melee unit and will receive another free unit once a Royal Navy Dockyard is constructed there. Gain a Redcoat unit when the Military science technology is learnt.
Unique Unit: is Redcoats which has a + 10 combat strength when fighting on a continent that the England capital isn’t built on.
Unique Ability is British Museum which provides an additional Artefact slot six instead of three and the museums with two archaeologists.
Unique Unit is the Sea Dog, a naval unit that can capture enemy ships and can’t be seen unless adjacent to it.
Unique Building is the Royal Navy Dockyard.  Gives lower production cost, +1 movement for all units built in the dock yard. +2 gold when built on a foreign continent +2 great admiral points per turn.
Leader Agenda: Sun never sets, she likes Civilizations from her home continent and likes to expand to all continents, she doesn’t like Civilizations on continents where England doesn’t have a city.

England and Queen Victoria with the Red coats and Sea dogs along with the rest of her Navy make her a good leader for domination. If you research Celestial Navigation, shipbuilding, Cartography and Square Rigging in the Technological Tree and get the Navy Docklands built you can have a strong Navy. Send out Settlers to other continents to create new cities and grow your empire.

Domination isn’t the only way to go with Victoria at the helm, Culture can be another victory as the England Civilization unique ability provides the British Museum and those extra three Artefact slots to fill and with two archaeologist this will help with a culture win. Of course you can play for a science or religious win but Queen Victoria doesn’t get any backup in these areas.

American Empire: Teddy Roosevelt

Leader Bonus: Roosevelt Corollary: unit’s receives a +5 combat strength on their home land and +1 appeal to all tiles in a city with a national park.
Unique Unit: P-51 Mustang: Air unit for the Modern era, gains +5 attack against fighter aircraft,has +2 flight range, and gains +50% experience Replaces the Fighter.
Unique Ability: Founding Fathers, This bonus means that they earn all government legacy bonuses in half the time.
Unique Unit: Rough Rider: An industrial era unit which earns Culture from kills on their capitals continent, +10 combat strength when fighting on hills, lower maintenance cost.
Unique Building: Film Studio,  Boosts tourism by 100% +4 culture, +1 citizens slot, +1 great artist point per turn, +2 great musician points per turn and +1 great work of music slot.
Leader Agenda: Big Stick hates when wars are started on a continent they share or against city states.

America and Teddy Roosevelt gives a huge civic bonus with Founding Fathers. Religion is weak with Teddy and America so getting only the basic in religion is the way to go. Teddy is best suited for a culture win, though that’s not to say he can’t win on domination or science as well.

Arabian Empire: Saladin

Leader Bonus: Righteousness of Faith, The worship building for Arabia’s religion can be purchased at 10% of the usual coast of faith, and grants Arabian cities with it a 10% science, faith and culture.
Unique Ability: The Last Prophet, Automaticity receive the final great prophet. +1 Science for each foreign city flowing Arabia’s religion.
Unique Unit: Mamluk, Heavy cavalry unit which heals at the end of every turn, even after moving or attacking.
Unique Building: Madrasas: Building uniquely Arabia which give bonus faith equal to the adjacency bonus of the campus district.
Leader Agenda: Ayyubid Dynasty, likes to have his worship building in as many cities and also like a Civilization with it. Doesn’t like following other religions or Civilizations waging war on followers of the same religion.

Arabia and Saladin are strong in religion and science with the last prophet and the unique building all helping to achieve a win with either religion or science. The Mamluk unit does not require a strategic resource which means you can rush the technology for Mamluk units without needing iron. Though that doesn’t mean that you should neglect to build up a good army just in case your neighbours decide to attack.

Roman Empire: Trajan

Leader Bonus: Trajan’s Column: Every city starts with an additional city centre building, a monument building in the ancient era
Unique Ability: All Roads Lead To Rome: Any cities founded by Rome receive a trade route and a road to it. Trade routes earn +1 Gold for passing through trading post in a Roman city
Unique Unit: Legion: A classical era melee  unit that can build a Roman fort. Higher combat strength 40 vs 36 and +10 combat strength vs anti cavalry units, can also clear terrain.
Unique Building: Bath:  Replaces the Aqueduct and provides +2 housing and a +1 Amenity, must be built beside city centre.
Leader Agenda: Optimus Princeps: Likes to have as much territory as possible, dislikes Civilizations that controls little territory.

Rome and Trajan are good for a Domination victory, with their traders building roads as they travel from city to city. It costs less movement points to move your army via a road. Once Engineering is learnt in the Technological tree and the Aqueducts can be built then the cities will grow faster. As with all Civilizations, Rome can try for other victories but its bonus and abilities are in line with a Domination victory.

Japanese Empire: Hojo Tokimune

Leader Bonus: Divine Wind: All land receive +5 combat strength in land tiles adjacent to a coast and navy unit’s on shallow water tiles receive +5 combat strength, 50% production towards Encampment, Holy site and theatre square district.
Unique Ability: Meiji Restoration: All district receive an additional standard adjacency bonus for being adjacent to another district.
Unique Unit: Samurai: Medieval era melee unit, does not suffer combat penalties when damaged, high combat strength, +10 combat strength vs anti cavalry units.
Unique Building: Electronic Factory: +4 production to all city centres within 6 tiles. When you have researched electricity this building provides an additional +4 culture
Leader Agenda: Bushido: likes Civilizations that have a strong military, faith and culture out put.
Dislikes Civilization that are weak on faith and culture but strong on military.

Japan and Hojo Tokimune Abilities and bonus make them an all rounder for any victory win. You can achieve any of the conditions to win with the Japanese .

Create cities on the coast and build pockets of district early on. This will make the encampment, holy site and theatre square all cheaper and faster to produce.

Their Samurai unit can fight without suffering penalties. They fight even better if they are fighting near the coast to take advantage of the Divine Wind Bonus.

Polish Empire: Jadwiga

Leader Bonus: Lithuanian Union: Taking a tile from a foreign city with a culture bomb converts it to Poland’s religion. All relics bring Faith +2 Culture +2 and +4 gold. Holy sights receive a +1 bonus from districts instead of the usual +0.05
Unique Ability: Golden Liberty: Building an encampment or fort triggers a culture bomb claiming surrounding tiles to Poland. One military policy slot converts to a wildcard slot. ( A culture bomb is a special effect which instantly expands a Civilization territory into nearby neutral or foreign tile.)
Unique Unit: Winged Hussar: Cavalry unit    which pushes back enemies if it does more damage than that unit when attacking.
Unique Building: Sukiennice replaces the market and is built in the commercial district. Adds +3 gold, +1 citizen slot, +1 great merchant point per turn
+4 gold for domestic trade routes and +2 production for international trade routes.
Leader Agenda: Saint: likes to build up faith and likes those who do the same. Dislikes Civilization with low faith out put.

Poland and Jadwiga can go for a religious, culture or domination victory. The culture bomb allows them to steal enemy territory, build holy site and theatre squares. You can build these in all of Poland’s cities to focus on maximising faith and culture points. This will help with getting Great Artists, Writers and Musicians and increase tourism. Or go the religious route by buying lots of Apostles to send to other cities to convert them.

Well, that’s it for this week. Come back next week when we will continue with the rest of the Leaders and their bonuses and abilities.

Keep playing and having fun!