There are many different assets available to anyone who plays Sid Meier’s Civilization 6 that can help them achieve a victory. These assets can vary but one of the most vital is the Government Policies that become available to the player as they research Civics. With each researched Civic the player unlocks more and more policies that can be implemented to enhance strategies and gameplay.
There are four types of policies: Military, Economic, Diplomatic, and Wildcard. Depending on what Government type the player has chosen they will be allotted a certain number of slots for each type of policy. Each policy has its advantages, but which ones are the best?
10 Professional Army
For those players that prefer a military domination style game, the Professional Army policy is perfect. Military units need gold in order to upgrade and some of these upgrades can be quite expensive – especially if there are many military units. A 50% upgrade makes a huge difference when it’s applied to many units. The savings will be astronomical and can then be used to either buy more units or be spent elsewhere.
9 Colonization
Colonization is a great policy for territorial expansion. Some players prefer to build up a few cities while others build city after city to claim territory. Depending on the player’s production levels, building settlers can take up to 10-15 turns.
Having a policy that adds 50% production towards the units is extremely helpful in this case – now the player can pump out settlers much more quickly. This policy is accessible after researching the Early Empire civic, so this is a great policy for early-game territorial expansion.
8 Raj
A fantastic Diplomatic policy is Raj, which gives the player +2 Science, Culture, Faith, and Gold for every City-State the player is Suzerain of. As a standard game of Civilization 6 progresses, more and more envoys become available and can be implemented strategically for whatever purpose the player wants. This policy provides a general bonus that is useful to any player, regardless of victory trajectory. No player will turn down these bonuses – there are no downsides to extra resources. It’s a policy that simply takes advantage of envoys that are already in place.
7 Third Alternative
During the late game, certain buildings become available such as Research Labs, Military Academies, and Power Plants. These types of buildings provide large amounts of resources – science, military strength, and power respectively. The Third Alternative policy also gives these buildings +4 gold per turn. This is an excellent policy because it provides a big gold bonus per turn, which can be used to offset the maintenance costs of these buildings, which run rather expensive. Otherwise, that extra gold can be used for whatever purpose, but it’s nice to have regardless.
6 Satellite Broadcasts
For those that aspire to win a Culture victory, nothing is more indispensable than Great People and their corresponding Great Works. These Great Works provide lots of culture and tourism output, especially in the late game.
The Satellite Broadcasts policy (also available in the late game) provides 3x the Tourism output from Great Works of Music. This is a fantastic policy to implement when a quick culture victory is the goal. This policy will effectively secure the player an instant advantage in terms of culture and put them ahead of other competing players.
5 Bastions
The Bastions policy is an all-around great policy to implement, whether the player is more militaristic or not. The policy gives the player +6 City Strength and +5 Ranged City Strength, giving each city in their empire a big defensive advantage. Whether the player is at war or not, it’s good to know that their cities are ready to defend both ranged and melee attackers. It’s a huge boost and it’s handy to have in place at all times – just in case. The player never knows when a competing civilization or group of Barbarians will be right around the corner.
4 Nobel Prize
One of the best strategies to win a Science victory is to have as many Great Scientist points generated per turn, as this particular Great Person provides many science-based bonuses and advantages. The quickest way to achieve this is to use the Nobel Prize policy, which becomes available in the late game once the Nuclear Program civic has been researched. The policy provides +4 Great Scientist points per turn – a huge jump compared to the previous Great Scientist policy which only provided +2. This policy will provide a huge advantage to any player aspiring towards a scientific victory.
3 Propaganda
Perfect for the player who wants to dominate other civilizations through war, the Propaganda policy provides 25% less war-weariness when it’s implemented. War-weariness is a game mechanic that lowers the overall happiness of a city the longer the player is at war and is worsened as casualties build up.
This can make sustained wars difficult, especially if this is the player’s main strategy. Though not entirely negating this, Propaganda will certainly help relieve some of that stress and make domination an easier tactic to pursue.
2 Machiavellianism
Arguably one of the coolest mechanics of Civilization 6, spies are an incredible asset for both defensive and offensive strategies. They provide the ability to peek into what other civilizations are doing or they can be used to act defensively within a player’s empire to defend against other spies. The Machiavellianism policy is perfect for those that like to implement this mechanic. It provides +50% production towards the units and their operations take 25% less time, meaning you can use them again sooner. Overall it’s a must-have policy for anyone using spies.
1 Free Market
The Free Market policy is one of the best policies to utilize in the late game as it provides extra gold from buildings in Commercial Hub districts (which already produce gold anyways). This is an excellent strategy to garner more money per turn, which can be extremely useful in the late game when everything comes down to speed and turn efficiency.
Though this policy is only useful if the player’s cities have a population of 15 or higher, extra gold is never a bad thing. Whether the extra gold goes to unit maintenance, buying districts, or supporting other civilizations, no player will say no to more money.
NEXT: Civilization 6: 5 Quick Ways to Science Victory (& 5 Ways to Fail)
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