While civilizations that focus heavily on a single victory type are on the fast track toward winning the game, they can be countered and made to bite the dust with no chance of pivoting. The only guarantee you’ll always have a chance at victory is picking a versatile civilization. It’s time to get Pingala on the Zoom call, open the Civilopedia, and figure out what leaders and civilizations offer the most roads to victory in Civilization VI.
5. Trajan’s Rome
Rome was designed as an easy-to-use civilization that’ll teach you how to play Civilization 6 – and the first lesson is to grow wide and build as many districts as possible. Trajan gets a free Monument in each city – which gives you an early cultural advantage and offsets the increasing cost of unlocking Civics – and automatically generates roads to the capital whenever you settle or conquer a new city. This road network makes mobilizing troops for defense or offense much easier and helps generate a ton of gold with little effort. Add to that the powerful Legion UU, and you’ve got a true powerhouse that’ll let you explore all roads to victory.
4. Poundmaker’s Cree
The Cree is an underrated civilization whose skills should help you easily snowball toward any victory type. Researching Pottery unlocks the Cree’s first Trade Route slot early and grants them a free Trader so they can start cashing in ASAP. Their routes grant extra food to the sending city and generate more gold depending on how many Camps or Pastures are in the destination city. In addition, they help expand your territory by bringing any tiles they pass through within three tiles of a Cree city into your control. However, what really sets the Cree apart is the Mekewap. This unique tile improvement grants one extra production and housing by default, gold for every adjacent luxury resource, and food for every two adjoining bonus resources. No matter how you decide to win, these bonuses will put you on the fast track.
3. Peter’s Russia
At first glance, Peter’s Russia might look like it’s built purely for a Religious or Cultural victory – but hear me out. The Lavra is a mighty district that’ll carry you a long way. It’s cheap to build, generates tons of faith and Great People points, and expands your territory by four tiles upon completion. By choosing the proper Government Plaza buildings, Civics, and Beliefs, you can buy almost anything you need with faith. In addition, Russia’s ability to utilize Tundra tiles effectively – and their immunity to blizzards – guarantee you’ll have plenty of land to grow wide on any map.
2. Barbarossa’s Germany
In Civilization VI, production is king – or in this case, it’s the Holy Roman Emperor. Germany has the veneer of a purely military civ due to its extra Military Policy slot, excellent U-Boat UU, and +7 Combat Strength against City-States – but that’s only the tip of the iceberg. All you need to do is spam Barbarossa’s Hansa industrial districts, ideally close together, and surround them with Commercial Hubs, Dams, Aqueducts, and Canals to trigger their extreme adjacency bonuses. With just three well-placed cities you can fabricate whatever you need for any victory condition – though Domination and Science victories are the easiest.
1. Tokimune’s Japan
Adjacency bonuses also give our top pick – Hojo Tokimune – his path to victory. The Japanese are all about building districts – as many as you can, as close to each other as possible. Not only are their Encampments, Holy Sites, and Theater Squares finished twice as fast – but all of their districts get a +1 yield bonus for every adjacent district. Building massive district clusters allows you to supercharge your production of everything – and you don’t even need a lot of land to do it. You can easily start the first religion, get Samurai early by building Campuses, and supercharge your Culture production with Theater Squares. Just pick a victory, and the Japanese will march toward it in a straight line.
