There’s one thing I find super annoying in Civ: settling on new continents. Yes, it’s possible to stack policies, get extra era score points, and minimize the penalties for settling far away, and yes it can be good for trade, but it’s such a pain! Map motion sickness, starting in a weak position somewhere else, and more… I don’t really find it fun.
Then there’s Nzinga Mbande. She is the leader of the Kongolese.
She is fun.
Let’s take a look at what makes her so awesome.
Leader Ability for Nzinga Mbande: Queen of Ndongo and Mtamba
Nzinga is focused on staying on her own continent. Her capital and every other city on Nzinga’s home continent get a 10 percent yield bonus (to… everything), but her cities get a -15 percent to all yields if they’re on other continents.
Nzinga’s Agenda: Decolonization
Nzinga’s Decolonization agenda means she loves civs if they are not on her continent. If you share a continent with her cities? Not so much.
Most Attainable Victory Type for Nzinga Mbande: Cultural Victory
Because you’ll have a somewhat smaller empire with Nzinga Mbande, it makes sense that most of her cities would be extensively developed as they expand on a single continent. This makes Nzinga ideal for building Wonders and museums, which lends itself well to a Cultural Victory strategy.
The other reason a Cultural Victory makes sense: the Nkisi ability permits the Kongolese a 50 percent faster generation for Great Merchants, Great Artists, and Great Musicians. There’s also a Kongolese Palace building, which comes with five slots for Great Works. That comes in handy considering sculptures, relics, and artifacts all generate extra gold, food, faith, and production in their respective home cities.
As Nzinga Mbande, you should play defensively. You don’t need or want to expand past your own continent. Instead, build cities and adequately defend them, then place abundant cultural features there.
In your early game, make sure to send a few scouts out early. That’s because finding relics helps you grab bonuses — immensely. Sending religious fighters into combat and intentionally letting them die to get relics is also not the worst idea.
Don’t forget to trade with AI players to get artifacts when you have slots for them. If you have gold, some of them will sell. Avoid wars and just keep growing. Invest in Cultural Wonders to ensure adequate culture generation, and, eventually, a Cultural Victory.
Since Mbande needs peace to grow her empire, a diplomatic victory is also a realistic goal. That said, it’s almost always like a civ will win a Cultural Victory (or Science Victory) accidentally before earning a Diplomacy Victory!
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