Tips and Tricks for Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm

New to Sid Meier’s Civilization VI or just someone looking for a helpful hand, here are some tips and tricks to get you going in the all-new expansion Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm.

• Don’t fear Floodplains or Volcanoes when settling.
  • Natural Disasters can be punishing, but they have the possibility to add yields to affected tiles.
  • Settling near these areas and building improvements on them after a disaster also gives valuable Era Score, or progress towards a Golden Age.
• Expand quickly in the early game.
  • Get the Provision promotion on the Governor Magnus to avoid losing population when making Settlers.
  • Equip the increased Settler production policy along with the Ancestral Hall Government Plaza building to get +100% Settler production. The Ancestral Hall also gives a free Builder in new cities, which is free production.
  • Try to get a Classical or Medieval Era Golden Age so you can take the Monumentality Commemoration. This allows you to purchase Settlers at a discount with both Gold and Faith.
• Not all Pantheons are created equal.
  • You always want something that is going to maximize your yield output and advantages. When considering something that improves a specific resource or improvement type, count the number of them you have to see which is going to be best.
  • Faith-based Pantheons like God of the Harvest or Earth Goddess are some of the best choices to try to build up Faith for a Monumentality Golden Age. Later in the game, the Faith these Pantheons accumulate can be used for Great People, Naturalists, and Rock Bands.
• Diplomacy is a skill!
  • Diplomacy is a huge factor in Gathering Storm.
  • Alliances will offer additional Diplomatic Favor for use in World Congress.
  • Many Alliances also make your trade routes give more yield.
• Use the World Congress to its maximum potential.
  • Outcomes in World Congress can greatly sway the tides of Victory.
  • Pay attention to how much Favor everyone else in the game has, and if there are any indicators that a leader will vote for a particular outcome on a Resolution. This can let you know how much Favor you may need to invest.
  • If the Resolution outcome you voted for is not passed, you will receive 100% of the Favor you used back.
  • If the Resolution outcome you voted for is passed, but the target is different than what you wanted, you will receive 50% of the Favor you used back.
  • If your neighbor is teetering on the edge of losing a city, voting to lower their loyalty with the Migration Treaty Resolution can give you the push you need to flip the city.
• Avoid settling or placing districts on 1m tiles on the coast.
  • These tiles are the most susceptible to becoming flooded in the late game and will pillage/destroy the tile if the sea level rises too much.
• After using 6 envoys on a City State, you should hold off on using any more unless you want to be Suzerain of a City State.
  • Saving them allows you to take back a City State if someone else becomes Suzerain of it.
• Take advantage of the new engineering projects!
  • Build dams on rivers with lots of floodplains to protect your districts and improvements. They also provide Housing and, later, can support a building that gives Power. Only one Dam district can be built on a single river, even if it is built by another civilization!
  • Railroads can be placed by Military Engineers. Railroads give your units tons of movement, which can be very helpful in emergencies. But they also add to the gold yield of your trade routes that cross them! Military Engineers must be built in an Encampment district with an Armory building.
• Place your Industrial Zones carefully.
  • Factories and Power Plants have regional effects that reach City Centers within 6 tiles. Maximize your Industrial Zone placement so you get the most out of each one.
  • A single Power Plant consumes resources to Power every City within range.
• Pay close attention to your Policies.
  • Remember what Policies you put into your Government. Maximize the modifiers you are getting from them, even if it means waiting to do something.
  • If you have a policy you are not getting much use from, swap it for something else!
• Always have some military.
  • Keeping some military on hand for defense is always a good idea. You can always tell how much military a player has by looking at their progress on the Domination Victory on the Overall tab of World Rankings. If the AI sees you do not have much military, they might consider you an easy target.
  • You never know when you might have to defend yourself from Barbarians or the AI. Don’t be caught off guard.
  • Upgrading older military units into more advanced versions is usually easier than building the advanced versions outright.
  • Never, ever send an unescorted Settler!
• Careful city planning is worth the effort.
  • Use the district placement lens to maximize the adjacency bonus of each of your districts.
  • Completing districts with high adjacencies builds your Era Score and unlocks significant bonuses from mid-game policies.
  • Find ways to get extra builder charges (Pyramids, Governor Liang, or Serfdom policy) to keep all the tiles your citizens are working improved.
  • Build plenty of Farms (in triangles if possible) to maximize food yields and benefit from the Housing they provide.