Are you ready to blast away towards a science victory in Civ 6? If so, you’ve got to know who are the best leaders for science civilizations, as well as which civs provide an advantage when it comes to science.
Science victories are among the most fun — you get to collect science resources, build libraries and universities, and eventually become a spacefaring nation! There are several ways you can make it happen with any civ, but having one of the best leaders for a science civilization can help immensely.
How Science Works in Civ VI
Each turn, you accumulate science! You can get science in various ways, and most of them are turn-based. Science is what allows you to discover new technologies. In addition to using it to win a science victory, science lets you advance your military. It’s critical — without it, you can’t advance on the tech tree.
To plan your civ’s advancement, you can use your tech tree to figure out a path to your next goal. You also get important bonuses, like era score points, for advancing in tech and earning Eurekas, depending on what’s in play. If you score the first tech in a new era, you always get an era score. Pretty nifty, right?
In addition to that, tech and science help your civilization scale. As your cities grow, you’ll notice people will complain about stuff like overpopulation. Through the magic of tech, you can build improvements that reduce those problems and complaints, keeping your citizens happy and productive.
Generally, science-oriented civs (and any civs, really) should be mindful to:
- Build near science-heavy tiles
- Take adjacency bonuses
- Earn great scientists via accumulating science and also using great scientists policy cards
- Create science buildings and wonders
- Discover and exploit natural resources and great wonders
- Build out science campuses and districts
Best Leaders for Science Civilization and Science Victory in Civ VI
Some leaders are built for a science win when it comes to Civ VI. Largely based off of their historical preferences, certain leaders provide bonuses towards science in one or more eras of the game.
Seondok – Korea
Under Seondok’s leadership, Korea boasts the Three Kingdoms ability, which enables science resource production via mines (and more food production via farms). Instead of a campus, Korea gets a Seowon, which replaces a campus district. Use the Seowon’s massive adjacency bonus to scale science and start in the second ring of the city.
Make sure you place them in an area reserved for farms and mines due to the bonuses. Research writing and pottery ASAP to get an early game advantage. Seondok has a leader ability giving +3 percent science and +3 percent culture per governor promotion! Place Pingala and watch your science score soar.
Lady Six Sky – Maya
If you’re interested in a technical build and precise gameplay, Lady Six Sky may be the winning sci leader for you in Civ 6. Overall, Mayan victories rely on having cities near each other, so you’ll have to avoid serious expansion. However, your second+ cities earn +10 percent to all yields if they’re close to the first city (within six tiles) — take advantage of that for science yields. Unfortunately, you won’t get adjacency bonuses from mountains.
However, the Maya have the Observatory, which is a campus district replacement. To increase science with an Observatory:
- Place it near plantations (+2 science for each adjacent plantation)
- Go heavy on farms and districts (+1/2 science for each)
- Generate specialists to get + 2 science per specialist.
These are also half as expensive, production-wise, as Campus districts. Build them as often as possible and plan for them — this is where precision comes in.
Hammurabi – Babylon
If you’re a min-maxer, consider playing as Hammurabi for a science victory. The Babylonian sci victory strategy is totally built around the free Eurekas they get, which enable you to rush technology. You will hit a penalty in the Info era and beyond, but if you’ve rushed well enough beforehand, you can make it happen. The Babylonians also have advantages to tech stealing when it comes to spies.
Winning a Science Victory in Civ 6: General Goal
To win a science victory with one of the best leaders for a science civilization in Civ 6, you’ll want to assemble and launch all parts of a spaceship via spaceports. Your civ should have two spaceports if possible in cities with heavy production, which will allow you to complete this goal quickly at the end of the game, which has a real space-race feel to it.
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We hope you enjoyed our guide describing how to choose one of the best leaders for science in Civ 6. Please check out Gamer Journalist on Facebook to join the discussion and keep up to date with our content. You may also want to check out our Civ VI Abraham Lincoln Strategy Guide — Best Tips for Playing as Honest Abe.
