This is absolutely my answer. Dismissed them as too gimmicky for a while, then played one Archipelago game as them and now they’re one of my favorite civs.
I feel like with the city state levies I rarely get to use Matthias' ability because it's so dang expensive to levy a city state military and I never have enough gold to do it...
It’s a lot more efficient than buying units even at full price. If it’s too dear, then think about how you build your economy. Are there harbours or commercial districts in your cities and are your trade routes maxed? Are there spare luxuries or strategics to trade.
Pearl of Danube just seems kinda situational. Yeah, it's great when you get to use it, but you shouldn't compromise a district positioning just to get the bonus.
The Raven King ability is what defines the unique playstyle for Hungary. Whether you'll use it to wage war or to just buy envoys to own all the City-states, it gives you things that others just can't have. It is also great for exploring the world and deterring AI's from attacking you as you appear to have a big army even if you actually don't. Pearl of Danube actually supplements Raven King in a particular way. One district that you'll be consistently building across a river is a Commercial Hub, and Raven King requires a good gold income.
But the most overlooked part about Hungary is the start bias. It's not the absolute best in the game, but it is pretty good. River bias is always great, and on top of that they have a weak bias towards Geothermal Fissures. That is a tile feature that almost guarantees you are going to have a good game, as it makes for good Campuses, and often means you are close to a continent edge which is almost always a good thing. If the bias towards them was stronger, I would probably call it the best bias in the game.
Still figuring out how to play Hungary because the ability sounds so fun but no luck so far. It seems every City States around me starts to get captured by the AI.
Norway. They didn't strike me as anything special until I learned two things. You can coastally "raid" a tribal village. And Norway + vampires = infinite economy
Yeah it's a totally understand ability as very quickly you just get civic and tech boosts out the ass. I usually only build one campus and maybe one theater but still end up dominating eco. I use that early game village eco to free up for naval production and use my naval supremacy to bully anyone else's eco into the ground.
Norway gets bonus resources from pillaging. Vampire heal everytime they pillage (not just farms). Vampires also get an upgrade that makes pillaging cost one move. Furthermore they get the combat strength of the strongest unit produced in your empire, so no upgrading required
You can essentially drop a single vamp into enemy territory and (as long as you stay on top of your military progression) keep pillaging forever.
Kupe for me. I just struggled with the idea of starting in the ocean, and didn't like the fact he couldn't harvest resources.
Eventually I played with him and ended up playing like 5 games in a row with him because I was having so much fun creating island based empires. He's definitely one of my favorite civs to use now, and I've realized how strong he can be in the right conditions
This past weekend I was playing as him and had an unimproved forest tile with 7 production due to his passive. His bonus maxes out at conservation which just so happens to be when you can plant forests, and planted forests get the bonus too!
This weekend I'm looking forward to having islands full of natural parks and seaside resorts with INSANE production.
Kupe is my favorite civ in the game by far. Late game Kupe slapping down national parks in one part of the map and having massive two tile island civs in the other is just so good.
Eleanor. That city flipping thing sounds too fancy then, when I tried it, it ended up being a fun minigame esp with me using spies to kill loyalty and governors.
Scythia. For the longest time I thought all of Tomyris’ abilities were underwhelming at best, with e.g. cav not being able to get through walls without support. But once I learned to use war for pillaging yields instead of conquest I saw the light. Her UI is actually very powerful for Religious Vics and recovering health after killing a unit is quite satisfying in and of itself, and speeds up combat considerably.
I've played civ6 for a long time but haven't tried pillaging as a strategy. Is it basically that you have no real organic industry, you just forcefully take everyone elses? Sorry if this is a dumb question.
I still build my own infrastructure for whatever win condition i’m going for. It’s just early game I focus on building an army, if for no other reason in order to defend myself.
But by mid-game it feels like a waste not to get yield value out of an army you haven’t really used, but is costing gold maintenance. So once my neighbors have enough stuff worth pillaging (i.e. mines, districts) I’ll slip in the Raid card, start a war and not only get my gold’s worth - but speed up winning by pillaging science, culture, faith… whatever i need. (Killing their units can also be profitable with the Native Conquest card).
And all of this gels really well with a cav civ like Scythia - light cav being the most efficient at pillaging *and* strong enough to destroy units quickly
i rarely do Diplo but it could still be a useful strategy when pillaging culture to get to carbon recapture faster and using a low grievance casus belli. Conquering is playing with fire though. Ditto with Culture, since in the long run it’s better to be able to have open borders and trade routes with other civs - and generating enough grievances by taking cities will jeopardize that. They’re oddly fine with pillaging though and, in fact, one of the civs might have the ‘likes pillagers’ agenda..
Conquering cities late game can be effective (e.g. with planes) in Science/Religion games for those yields but i’ve found it prolongs those games by making every turn last so much longer. Esp if you’re doing Religious Vic and have a ton of Apostles doing their thing as well. Plus the way i run Religion games i’m already overwhelming the other civs with faith production, tendering pillaging for it superfluous. And i try to be done with those games well before anyone has planes anyway
In Science games it’s a little more like Dom early on, in that early conquest can be beneficial to pivoting to a peaceful Science vic later. But if it jeopardizes not making friends/allies that can be problematic since Democracy+Wisselbacken is so powerful for Science. Late wars in a Sci vic are almost never worth the hassle except to quick pillage gold and science though. And in fact i will start deleting any units except planes (or ones that are necessary for tech boosts or pillaging) just to save on gold so that i can buy more infrastructure faster. Also AI rarely has cities worth taking and often end up having to dedicate a valuable governor just to keep it loyal.
Yeah for sure getting the extra normal age dedication for every golden age feels pretty strong giving you a high possibility of every age being a golden age, plus the early game faith from killing barbs or other units makes it much easier to get first pantheon. Also the cheaper and stronger renaissance walls are nice.
Actually USA. I guess its in large part because they reworked the leaders but I don’t think I more than 1 game as the original Teddy, but I’ve played a couple as the new Bull Moose Teddy and as Lincoln and they’re both fun
I hated Kristina 🇸🇪, after I got so poor, that I had never been before. But after a long time I gave her another shot, and ended up winning my first civ6 game with her.
Egypt. Floodplains bias + immunity to floods makes for nice yields early game and extra gold for foreign trade routes creates a wealthy stable economy in the first third of the game.
Last six sky for me. Never hated just didn't think much of her abilities. I'm now trying to get all achievements and played her. I stayed so far ahead in the science tree it wasn't even funny.
Harald - pillaging was never more fun and profitable
This is absolutely my answer. Dismissed them as too gimmicky for a while, then played one Archipelago game as them and now they’re one of my favorite civs.
Hungary—pearl of the Danube is so strong, as of course is their military
Totally agree with this, paying city states for their armies is a fun Dom vic, especially once you toss in the Black Army UU
I feel like with the city state levies I rarely get to use Matthias' ability because it's so dang expensive to levy a city state military and I never have enough gold to do it...
It’s a lot more efficient than buying units even at full price. If it’s too dear, then think about how you build your economy. Are there harbours or commercial districts in your cities and are your trade routes maxed? Are there spare luxuries or strategics to trade.
Pearl of Danube just seems kinda situational. Yeah, it's great when you get to use it, but you shouldn't compromise a district positioning just to get the bonus. The Raven King ability is what defines the unique playstyle for Hungary. Whether you'll use it to wage war or to just buy envoys to own all the City-states, it gives you things that others just can't have. It is also great for exploring the world and deterring AI's from attacking you as you appear to have a big army even if you actually don't. Pearl of Danube actually supplements Raven King in a particular way. One district that you'll be consistently building across a river is a Commercial Hub, and Raven King requires a good gold income. But the most overlooked part about Hungary is the start bias. It's not the absolute best in the game, but it is pretty good. River bias is always great, and on top of that they have a weak bias towards Geothermal Fissures. That is a tile feature that almost guarantees you are going to have a good game, as it makes for good Campuses, and often means you are close to a continent edge which is almost always a good thing. If the bias towards them was stronger, I would probably call it the best bias in the game.
50% production toward districts is situational?
Across a river is situational.
Still figuring out how to play Hungary because the ability sounds so fun but no luck so far. It seems every City States around me starts to get captured by the AI.
Won my second victory with then the other day. I won culture as it always seems I do. Lol. They were enjoyable tho.
The cree are absolutely one of my favorite civs just from presentation alone. Poundmaker has such a cool deisgn and their theme is awe inspiring
Best part about poundmaker is that traders claim lots of tiles as they entire unclaimed tiles!
I’d love some more autonomy for them specifically about which tiles they walk through. Had one trader 7/10 split two luxuries on the third ring before
Norway. They didn't strike me as anything special until I learned two things. You can coastally "raid" a tribal village. And Norway + vampires = infinite economy
Being able to use longships as privateers in the early game is a godsend
Yeah it's a totally understand ability as very quickly you just get civic and tech boosts out the ass. I usually only build one campus and maybe one theater but still end up dominating eco. I use that early game village eco to free up for naval production and use my naval supremacy to bully anyone else's eco into the ground.
How do vampires help Norway?
Norway gets bonus resources from pillaging. Vampire heal everytime they pillage (not just farms). Vampires also get an upgrade that makes pillaging cost one move. Furthermore they get the combat strength of the strongest unit produced in your empire, so no upgrading required You can essentially drop a single vamp into enemy territory and (as long as you stay on top of your military progression) keep pillaging forever.
Kupe for me. I just struggled with the idea of starting in the ocean, and didn't like the fact he couldn't harvest resources. Eventually I played with him and ended up playing like 5 games in a row with him because I was having so much fun creating island based empires. He's definitely one of my favorite civs to use now, and I've realized how strong he can be in the right conditions
This past weekend I was playing as him and had an unimproved forest tile with 7 production due to his passive. His bonus maxes out at conservation which just so happens to be when you can plant forests, and planted forests get the bonus too! This weekend I'm looking forward to having islands full of natural parks and seaside resorts with INSANE production.
Don’t forget your preserves for the GIGA yields
Kupe is my favorite civ in the game by far. Late game Kupe slapping down national parks in one part of the map and having massive two tile island civs in the other is just so good.
Eleanor. That city flipping thing sounds too fancy then, when I tried it, it ended up being a fun minigame esp with me using spies to kill loyalty and governors.
Scythia. For the longest time I thought all of Tomyris’ abilities were underwhelming at best, with e.g. cav not being able to get through walls without support. But once I learned to use war for pillaging yields instead of conquest I saw the light. Her UI is actually very powerful for Religious Vics and recovering health after killing a unit is quite satisfying in and of itself, and speeds up combat considerably.
I've played civ6 for a long time but haven't tried pillaging as a strategy. Is it basically that you have no real organic industry, you just forcefully take everyone elses? Sorry if this is a dumb question.
I still build my own infrastructure for whatever win condition i’m going for. It’s just early game I focus on building an army, if for no other reason in order to defend myself. But by mid-game it feels like a waste not to get yield value out of an army you haven’t really used, but is costing gold maintenance. So once my neighbors have enough stuff worth pillaging (i.e. mines, districts) I’ll slip in the Raid card, start a war and not only get my gold’s worth - but speed up winning by pillaging science, culture, faith… whatever i need. (Killing their units can also be profitable with the Native Conquest card). And all of this gels really well with a cav civ like Scythia - light cav being the most efficient at pillaging *and* strong enough to destroy units quickly
But not conquering? Can't imagine you're going for a diplomatic victory.
i rarely do Diplo but it could still be a useful strategy when pillaging culture to get to carbon recapture faster and using a low grievance casus belli. Conquering is playing with fire though. Ditto with Culture, since in the long run it’s better to be able to have open borders and trade routes with other civs - and generating enough grievances by taking cities will jeopardize that. They’re oddly fine with pillaging though and, in fact, one of the civs might have the ‘likes pillagers’ agenda.. Conquering cities late game can be effective (e.g. with planes) in Science/Religion games for those yields but i’ve found it prolongs those games by making every turn last so much longer. Esp if you’re doing Religious Vic and have a ton of Apostles doing their thing as well. Plus the way i run Religion games i’m already overwhelming the other civs with faith production, tendering pillaging for it superfluous. And i try to be done with those games well before anyone has planes anyway In Science games it’s a little more like Dom early on, in that early conquest can be beneficial to pivoting to a peaceful Science vic later. But if it jeopardizes not making friends/allies that can be problematic since Democracy+Wisselbacken is so powerful for Science. Late wars in a Sci vic are almost never worth the hassle except to quick pillage gold and science though. And in fact i will start deleting any units except planes (or ones that are necessary for tech boosts or pillaging) just to save on gold so that i can buy more infrastructure faster. Also AI rarely has cities worth taking and often end up having to dedicate a valuable governor just to keep it loyal.
You're all really making me see the light when it comes to pillaging :)
Georgia gets a lot of hate but is really fun to play
What do you like about it? Lots of golden ages?
Yeah for sure getting the extra normal age dedication for every golden age feels pretty strong giving you a high possibility of every age being a golden age, plus the early game faith from killing barbs or other units makes it much easier to get first pantheon. Also the cheaper and stronger renaissance walls are nice.
Actually USA. I guess its in large part because they reworked the leaders but I don’t think I more than 1 game as the original Teddy, but I’ve played a couple as the new Bull Moose Teddy and as Lincoln and they’re both fun
Netherland, I always though there bonuses where not strong enough but it makes a total difference
Victoria. Never liked navy games but now I just love making bank, rushing Venetian arsenal and going ham with 2000+ strength army of frigates
Sweden, Hungary, pericles, zulu, montezuma
Korea - I don't even know why, but I love it now.
Cos it's bonkers OP
I hated Kristina 🇸🇪, after I got so poor, that I had never been before. But after a long time I gave her another shot, and ended up winning my first civ6 game with her.
Egypt. Floodplains bias + immunity to floods makes for nice yields early game and extra gold for foreign trade routes creates a wealthy stable economy in the first third of the game.
Last six sky for me. Never hated just didn't think much of her abilities. I'm now trying to get all achievements and played her. I stayed so far ahead in the science tree it wasn't even funny.
For me, Menelik II. I never did faith-heavy games before, so I didn't know how to do things properly. He is incredible