I’m going to share a strategy that fundamentally changes how you play Civilization 6. It’s not a small trick or a minor exploit, but a comprehensive approach that can lock you into a perpetual Golden Age. When you get this right, you create a cycle of unstoppable expansion and development that leaves other civilizations wondering what hit them.
This is about more than just earning a single Golden Age. It’s about chaining them together, creating an unending era of prosperity that makes your empire an overwhelming force. We’ll do this by combining the “Monumentality” dedication with smart Era Score management and a ruthless use of loyalty pressure. Let’s break down how to make it happen.
The Cornerstone: Mastering Monumentality
The entire strategy is built on one Golden Age dedication: Monumentality. You can pick it from the Classical Era onward, and its benefits are the engine for everything that follows:
- Civilian units can be purchased with Faith.
- Settlers and Builders are 30% cheaper to purchase with Faith or Gold.
- All Builders get +2 Movement.
This might not look like much at first glance, but it’s the key to explosive growth. By generating a massive amount of Faith, you turn it into the fuel for rapid expansion and development that no other strategy can compete with.
Building Your Faith Engine
From the moment the game starts, your top priority is building a strong Faith income. This has to be an aggressive, focused effort.
Early Game (Ancient Era):
- Pantheon: Your choice here is critical. Religious Settlements is tempting for the free Settler, but for this strategy, consistent Faith generation is usually better. The best choices are often the terrain-based pantheons: Dance of the Aurora (tundra), Desert Folklore (desert), Sacred Path (rainforest), or River Goddess (rivers). A capital settled in the right spot can generate a huge amount of Faith right from the start.
- First Governor: Instead of Magnus for settlers, your first Governor title should go to Liang. Her “Zoning Commissioner” ability gives your Builders an extra build charge, which is a perfect synergy with the builder-heavy strategy we’re aiming for.
- Essential Wonders: The Pyramids is non-negotiable. It grants +2 build charges to all of your builders. When you combine this with Monumentality and Liang, you’ll be creating an army of super-efficient builders. The Oracle, which cuts the Faith and Gold cost of buying Great People, is another top-tier wonder that helps you get a Great Prophet and other important figures.
- Holy Sites: Make Holy Sites one of the first districts you build in most cities. Plan their placement to maximize adjacency bonuses from mountains and natural wonders. The goal is to have a solid stream of Faith coming in before the Classical Era begins.
Chaining the Golden Ages by Farming Era Score
One Golden Age with Monumentality is great. A chain of them is how you break the game. To do this, you have to become a master of generating Era Score. This isn’t about luck; it’s about actively hunting down every point you can.
How to Proactively Hunt for Era Score
You can’t just wait for Era Score moments to happen. You have to make them happen.
Reliable Era Score Sources:
- Barbarian Camps: Clear every camp you see near your cities.
- Tribal Villages (Goody Huts): Explore the map relentlessly to pop as many of these as possible.
- First Suzerain: Be the first to become suzerain of a city-state. Use your first envoys to lock one down early. The governor Amani is perfect for this.
- Natural Wonders: Send scouts in every direction to find these. You get Era Score for discovering them and for settling near them.
- Unique Units/Buildings: Build your civilization’s unique units, buildings, or improvements for the first time to get a nice Era Score boost.
- High Adjacency Districts: Plan your cities to create districts with high adjacency bonuses (+3 or more). You get Era Score the first time you build one.
- Circumnavigation: Be the first to travel all the way around the map. A single scout in a galley can often do this very early.
- Strategic Resources: Get Era Score for improving a new strategic resource for the first time and for building a unit that requires it.
Managing Your Era Score:
Don’t just accumulate Era Score blindly. If you’ve already earned enough for a Golden Age, any extra score in that era is wasted. It’s often better to “edge” your score, keeping it just over the threshold. You can do this by delaying the completion of a wonder or the activation of a great person until the next era starts. This makes it easier to hit the target for the next Golden Age.
The Monumentality Snowball
Once you hit your first Golden Age and select Monumentality, the game transforms. Your Faith becomes a resource you can use to explode across the map.
The Classical and Medieval Eras: The Expansion Phase
Here’s your new gameplay loop:
- Generate Faith: Keep building Holy Sites and their buildings. Use policy cards that increase Faith output.
- Buy Settlers and Builders: Pour your Faith into a constant stream of Settlers and Builders. The 30% discount is huge, and since you’re buying them, your cities don’t lose population and can continue to grow.
- Expand Rapidly: Settle new cities everywhere. Don’t be afraid to settle aggressively near your opponents. The loyalty pressure from your Golden Age will help keep your new cities from flipping.
- Develop Instantly: Your builders, boosted by the Pyramids and Liang, can turn empty land into productive territory almost overnight. Chop forests for production, build farms for growth, and place mines to power your economy.
- Fuel the Next Golden Age: All this activity—settling new cities, building unique improvements, creating high-adjacency districts—will naturally generate a ton of Era Score, setting you up for your next Golden Age.
Civilization Synergies:
This strategy works with any civ, but some are especially good at it:
- Rome (Trajan): Free monuments give you the early culture and loyalty you need for a wide empire.
- Mali (Mansa Musa): They can generate incredible amounts of Faith, especially with Desert Folklore, making them a Monumentality monster.
- Russia (Peter): The Lavra district is amazing for Faith, and with the Dance of the Aurora pantheon, their Faith generation is second to none.
- Japan (Hojo Tokimune): Their doubled district adjacency bonuses make it incredibly easy to get high-yield Holy Sites.
Weaponizing Loyalty: The Free Cities Gambit
As you chain Golden Ages, you’ll exert incredible loyalty pressure on your neighbors. This isn’t just for defense; it’s one of your most powerful offensive tools. While your opponents are in Normal or Dark Ages, your empire will be a beacon of prosperity that pulls their cities away from them.
How It Works:
- Settle Strategically: Place your new cities to create a wall of loyalty pressure against a specific opponent.
- Target the Weak: Look for opponents entering a Dark Age or already struggling with loyalty.
- Increase Pressure: Place the governor Amani on your border and give her the “Prestige” promotion. Run the “Bread and Circuses” project in your border cities.
- The Flip: The enemy city’s loyalty will drop until it rebels and becomes a Free City.
- Peaceful Conquest: Because of your immense loyalty pressure, the Free City will be drawn to your empire and will join you without you ever having to declare war.
- Bonus Era Score: Every city that flips to you provides Era Score, making it even easier to continue your chain of Golden Ages.
Adapting for the Late Game
By the mid-game, this strategy will have given you a massive empire with a strong economy and a lead in science and culture. Your focus will now shift from expansion to closing out the game.
You might switch from Monumentality to other Golden Age dedications like Heartbeat of Steam (for wonder production) or To the Skies (for a late-game science boost). Your huge empire is now a launchpad for any victory type you want. You’ll have the production for a Domination Victory, the science for a Science Victory, and the Faith and territory for a Cultural or Religious Victory.
This strategy is even more powerful in the “Dramatic Ages” game mode, where the loyalty swings are more extreme. A perpetual Golden Age in that mode is basically a guaranteed win, as your opponents’ empires will crumble into Free Cities for you to absorb.
By mastering this cycle of Faith, Era Score, and loyalty, you can turn your empire into an unstoppable force. Give it a try, and enjoy your endless Golden Age.