Highlights
- The Science Victory is difficult to achieve due to complexity and late acquisition. Technology and production are key.
- The Scottish civilization can pursue a Science Victory with happy cities and increased science and production bonuses.
- Indonesians can easily achieve a Science Victory with adjacency bonuses and the Kampung improvement.
Science Victory is one of the most difficult victory types to acquire due to its complexity and tendency to be acquired late in the game by players of Civilization 6. The victory type needs a civilization to be well-versed in technology and have an abundance of production to be used in building the necessary city projects to launch space projects.
Civilization 6: 7 Best City-States For Science Victory, Ranked
Players aiming for a Science Victory in Civilization 6 should look to acquire the following city-states as soon as possible.
Due to these complexities, there are only a select few civilizations that can translate their strength into gaining a Science Victory. Some may rely on their unique improvements, while others might instead try to maximize their civilization’s ability to gain the special victory type.
1 Scottish (Robert The Bruce)
Convert Happy Cities Into Smart Cities
- Happy cities gain +5% Science and +5% Production, and generate +1 Great Scientist point in their Campuses and +1 Great Engineer point in their Industrial Zones. Ecstatic cities double these bonuses.
- Robert the Bruce: Can declare a War of Liberation with Defensive Tactics, instead of Diplomatic Service. +100% Production in all cities and +2 Movement for all units for the next 10 turns after declaring a War of Liberation.
Seemingly appearing unassuming at first, the Scottish civilization hides a powerful modifier that requires a unique prerequisite for the modifier to take effect. By having the cities happy, the population in those cities will have increased science and production, making them more productive than ever.
Although Robert’s unique leader ability is not directly beneficial to a Science Victory, it allows the civilization to counteract any attempt of warmonger and Domination Victory by both producing and mobilizing units rapidly. Moreover, it allows the civilization to rapidly finish city projects needed to acquire a Science Victory, such as launching a satellite.
2 Babylonian (Hammurabi)
The Notorious Civilization For Rapid Advancement
- Eurekas instantly unlock their respective technologies. -50% Science per turn.
- Hammurabi: Upon building each type of specialty District, except the Government Plaza, for the first time, instantly receives the building with the lowest Production cost that can be built in that district. Upon building any other district for the first time, receives a free Envoy.
Despite its notoriety in being able to build airplanes while its neighbors were still in the Medieval Era, winning a Science Victory with Hammurabi is quite difficult, although still achievable. The main method of acquiring technology via Eureka can lead to the Babylonian’s downfall, as they will need to turn to conventional research acquirement with a -50% modifier.
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However, if a player manages to seize all the technology via Eureka by planning ahead and setting their tactics accordingly, Babylonia becomes one of the most powerful civilizations that can gain an edge in winning the Science Victory.
3 Indonesian (Gitarja)
A Maritime Empire That Can Aim For The Sky
- Coast and Lake tiles provide a +0.5 adjacency bonus for Holy Site, Campus, Industrial Zone, and Theater Square districts. Entertainment Complexes built adjacent to a Coast or Lake tile provide +1 Amenity.
- Gitarja: May purchase naval units with Faith. Religious units pay no movement cost to embark or disembark. City Centers adjacent to Coast or Lake tiles gain +2 Faith.
Surprisingly, a player can find it easy to win a Science Victory in Indonesia, although the civilization is traditionally paired up with a path towards a Culture Victory in the long run. Indonesia’s unique ability to bestow adjacency bonuses from Coast or Lake tiles makes her quite flexible in placing her specialty districts.
Moreover, the unique Indonesian improvement, Kampung, makes the civilization able to capitalize on several resources all at once, which is the extra culture and production, crucial to finishing city projects that involve a Science Victory.
4 Korean (Seondeok)
A Classic Choice Of Science Victory For Veterans
- Farms receive +1 Food and Mines receive +1 Science for each adjacent Seowon.
- Seondeok: Cities with an established Governor receive +3% Culture and +3% Science for each promotion that the Governor has.
Players of Civilization 6 who have been playing the game for years will not be unfamiliar with the advantages that Koreans give to winning the Science Victory. The advantage comes from the fact that Korea’s unique district, Seowon, receives numerous adjacency bonuses as long as it is not built next to another district, making it easier for players to acquire numerous science points, making them able to research new technologies faster than before.
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Moreover, Seondeok’s special ability to have Governors increase culture and science acquisitions based on their promotion levels makes Korea more than viable to achieve a Science Victory.
5 German (Frederick Barbarossa)
Maximizes Production To Gain An Advantage
- Each city can build one more specialty District than the Population limit would normally allow.
- Frederick Barbarossa: Gains an additional Military policy slot in all Governments. +7 Combat Strength for all units when fighting city-states and their units.
With their unique district, which is the Hansa, and Barbarossa’s unique ability to gain an additional military policy slot, many would expect the civilization to aim for a Domination Victory thanks to their extra production bonuses. However, it turns out that the Germans are also capable of launching an Exoplanet Expedition from their city to win the Science Victory.
With Hansa’s special ability to acquire additional military policy, players can expect the German civilization to suddenly achieve a massive amount of science points via various means.
6 Mayan (Lady Six Sky)
Convert Both Science And Growth Into A Science Victory
- Cities do not receive additional Housing from being adjacent to fresh water or coast. Cities gain +1 Amenity for each Luxury Resource adjacent to the City Center. Farms grant +1 Housing, +1 Production if adjacent to an Observatory, and +1 Gold.
- Lady Six Sky: Non-Capital cities within 6 tiles of the Capital gain +10% to all yields and receive a Builder when founded, while cities more than 6 tiles away receive -15% to all yields. +5 Combat Strength for all units within six tiles of the Mayan Capital.
As a civilization that prioritizes its internal affairs over others with its unique abilities, the Mayans have the potential to remain isolated from the world while amassing a large amount of science, eventually winning the game stealthily since their cities are fortified with both walls and Lady Six Sky’s ability.
Although it means that the player can only make a certain amount of cities to use Lady Six Sky’s special ability, the bonus modifier makes it worthwhile for players to try playing “tall” with the Mayans instead of their usual playstyle with the farm triangles supporting their unique Observatory. The food and production bonuses make it more than enough for the Mayans to both focus on researching technology and growing their populace.
7 Chinese (Yongle)
Very Powerful In The Hands Of Veteran Players
- Eurekas and Inspirations provide an extra 10% of the Science and Culture cost for researching technologies and civics. Completing a Wonder grants a Eureka and Inspiration from that Wonder’s era.
- Yongle: Gain the special Lijia city project.
- Cities with 10 or more Population gain +2 Gold, +1 Science, and +1 Culture for every Citizen Population.
At first glance, the Lijia special city project that comes with Yongle seems to be weak as it only grants a limited amount of chosen resources when worked. However, upon closer look, Lijia is one of the most powerful city projects that can only be made specifically by Yongle as it allows the player to either gain a huge amount of gold, numerous food to grow their cities better, or an abundance of faith to acquire early pantheons and religion.
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The bonus of having a city with more than 10 population will make the populace gain gold, science, and culture per population. Yongle can quickly aim for a Science Victory with his rapid procurement of gold, science, and culture to gain the necessary buildings, technology, and civics.
