In Sid Meier’s Civilization VI, the map you choose is more than just the world you play on—it’s the key to your entire strategy. The mountains, oceans, and continents you start with aren’t just for show; they guide whether you should aim for a scientific breakthrough, a cultural revolution, global conquest, a divine mandate, or a diplomatic consensus. Picking the right map for your goal is the first, and maybe the most important, decision you’ll make. It can be the difference between a grueling uphill battle and a smooth path to victory.
I’m going to share a deep dive into the strategy behind Civ 6‘s map types, breaking down how you can use each layout to your advantage for any victory condition. I want to give you real, actionable strategies that will change how you see the game world. You’ll start to see the map not as a random bunch of tiles, but as a puzzle you can solve on your way to an inevitable win.
The Juggernaut’s Playground: Best Maps for a Domination Victory
A Domination Victory is the most direct path—just be the last civilization standing. This means you need a map that helps with military logistics, rewards aggression, and lets your armies march across the world without stopping.
Pangea: The Classic Battlefield
The Pangea map, one single landmass, is the classic arena for would-be conquerors. Its main feature—unbroken land—is a double-edged sword that, if you use it right, becomes a huge advantage.
How to Play It:
- Strike Early: On Pangea, you will always have neighbors, and they’re often close. You need to focus on your military from the get-go. If you’re playing a civ with a strong early unique unit, like the Aztec Eagle Warriors or Sumerian War-Carts, you can grab an early advantage that just snowballs. There are no oceans to protect you, so whoever builds a big army first can often decide the fate of the continent.
- Build Your Roads: A big empire on Pangea needs a great road network. Building Commercial Hubs and using trade routes to create a web of roads isn’t just good for your economy; it’s critical for your military. Being able to move your troops quickly between fronts will be the deciding factor in wars fought on multiple sides. The Military Engineer is your best friend here.
- Use Chokepoints: Even on a wide-open map, things like mountain ranges and coastlines create natural chokepoints. You have to identify and control these spots. A well-placed fort or a city in a mountain pass can stop a much bigger army, letting you focus your main force on attacking. The Inca are amazing at this, turning mountains from barriers into highways for their armies.
A Quick Example: Imagine you’re playing as Alexander the Great on Pangea. Your whole game is about chaining conquests to keep war weariness down. Use your Hypaspists and Hetairoi to crush a neighbor in the Ancient or Classical era. The moment you take a city, repair its monument and build a Campus to use Alexander’s boosts to Eurekas and Inspirations. This way, your military tech will never fall behind, and your army becomes a self-powering engine of conquest and science.
Seven Seas: The Naval Conqueror’s Dream
The Seven Seas map gives you a world with large continents split by huge oceans, plus lots of islands and inland seas. This map means you need a powerful navy to project your power and take over the world.
How to Play It:
- Rule the Waves, Rule the World: On this map, a strong navy isn’t just a good idea; it’s essential for a Domination Victory. Civs with great naval unique units, like Norway’s Longships or England’s Royal Navy Dockyard and Sea Dogs, are perfect here. Your first move should be to secure your own continent, then use your naval power to invade across the ocean.
- Build the Venetian Arsenal: This wonder, which gives you a free naval unit every time you train one, is probably the most powerful wonder for a naval domination game. On a Seven Seas map, rushing this can give you a naval advantage that no one can overcome. Find a city with high production, a good Harbor spot, and make building the Venetian Arsenal your main goal for the mid-game.
- Island Hopping: Those small islands all over the map aren’t just in the way; they’re strategic prizes. If you capture or settle them, you can create forward bases to heal your ships and launch attacks on other continents more easily. An island city can also block key naval routes.
A Quick Example: As Harald Hardrada of Norway on a Seven Seas map, your early game should be all about coastal raiding. Use your Longships to pillage your neighbors’ coastal tiles, which wrecks their economy while boosting your science and culture. Once you have an advantage, start taking their coastal cities. Your ability to heal in neutral waters keeps your navy constantly on the attack. As you advance in tech, your land units can capture cities while your navy provides backup from the sea.
The Ascent to the Stars: Prime Maps for a Science Victory
A Science Victory is a race against the clock, showing off your civ’s brainpower and production. The best map for this gives you safety, resources, and the right terrain to pump out as much science as possible.
Highlands: The Fortress of a Thousand Hills
The Highlands map is a rugged, mountainous world full of hills. It can be tough to get around, but it gives you amazing defensive bonuses and great production.
How to Play It:
- Defense is Key: The best thing about the Highlands map is how defensible it is. All the hills and mountains create natural walls that make it super hard for an enemy to attack your cities. This lets you focus on building your science districts and infrastructure without worrying about early-game rushes.
- Maximize Production and Science: Hills are great for Production, especially after you unlock Mining. You need that production to build Campuses, Libraries, Universities, and eventually, the Spaceports for the science victory. Plus, all the mountains give you amazing adjacency bonuses for your Campuses. A Campus next to a few mountains can generate a ton of science.
- Perfect for the Inca and Korea: The Inca are masters of the mountains. They can work mountain tiles and build their unique Terrace Farms on hills, turning the tough terrain into a source of huge growth. Korea is also great here. Their Seowon district gets a big science bonus for being surrounded by other districts, so you can build tall, dense cities in the hills and thrive.
A Quick Example: If you’re playing as Seondeok of Korea on a Highlands map, you want to find a defensible spot with lots of hills. Your first governor should be Pingala with the “Grants” promotion to boost science in your capital. Settle your cities close together to get the most out of the Seowow’s unique rules. The defensive terrain will keep enemies away, giving you the time you need to race through the tech tree.
Terra: The Unspoiled New World
The Terra map is special because all major civs start on one continent, leaving a second “New World” continent empty (except for barbarians and city-states). This creates a really interesting strategy for a science game.
How to Play It:
- Race to the New World: The key to winning a science victory on Terra is to be the first one to cross the ocean and settle the New World. You need to rush the Cartography tech so your units can enter ocean tiles. Once you get to the new continent, you’ll have a huge amount of land to settle with no competition from other major civs.
- Build Your Science Heartland: The cities you build in the New World will be the engine of your science victory. Since they’re safe from invasion, you can focus them completely on science and production. Build tons of Campuses, Industrial Zones, and eventually Spaceports. The lack of military pressure lets you plan your districts perfectly.
- Secure Strategic Resources: The New World will be full of strategic resources like Aluminum and Uranium, which you absolutely need for the late-game space race projects. If you colonize the continent early, you can get a monopoly on these resources, which will stop any rivals who eventually make it across the ocean from competing in the space race.
A Quick Example: As Peter the Great of Russia on a Terra map, your Lavra districts will help you get the Great People points you need for key Great Scientists. Use the extra territory you get from founding new cities to quickly claim the best spots in the New World. Your trade routes between the old and new worlds will make you money and also build a road network for later. The untouched new continent is the perfect place to build your cosmodromes.
The Masterpiece of Influence: Ideal Maps for a Culture Victory
A Culture Victory is about making your civilization so cool that the rest of the world is drawn to your way of life. This means you need land for National Parks, chances for trade, and a way to generate a ton of tourism.
Continents and Islands: A World of Tourists
The Continents and Islands map gives you a few big landmasses with a bunch of smaller islands. This mix of land and sea is perfect for a multi-pronged tourism strategy.
How to Play It:
- Build Seaside Resorts: The long coastlines on this map are a goldmine for tourism. Once you can build Seaside Resorts on breathtaking coastal tiles, your tourism can go through the roof. Focus on making your coastal tiles more appealing by planting woods and removing marshes. Wonders like the Eiffel Tower, which boosts the Appeal of all your tiles, are a top priority.
- Dig for Treasure: Because civs are separated on different continents, you’ll find ancient battlefields and shipwrecks all over the map. Send your Archaeologists to dig up Artifacts from these sites for a big boost to your culture and tourism. The sea can also have shipwreck sites that your naval units can recover.
- Trade and Open Borders: To win a Culture Victory, you need open borders and trade routes with as many civs as possible. The Continents and Islands map makes this easier, as sea trade routes are often better and easier to set up than land ones. A big network of international trade routes is key to spreading your cultural influence.
A Quick Example: Playing as Kristina of Sweden on a Continents and Islands map, you can use your ability to automatically theme your Museums and Wonders. Settle coastal cities to get the tourism bonus from the Open-Air Museum. Use your diplomatic visibility to see who your main cultural rivals are and focus your trade routes and rock bands on them. The many islands are great spots for National Parks, which will boost your tourism even more.
Primordial: A World of Untamed Beauty
The Primordial map is a wild, untamed world with more geothermal fissures, volcanoes, and natural wonders. It’s dangerous, but this volatile world is a goldmine for a Culture Victory.
How to Play It:
- Use Natural Wonders: Natural wonders give a big Appeal boost to the tiles next to them, making them perfect spots for National Parks and Seaside Resorts. The Primordial map has more natural wonders, so you have more chances to settle near them and build your tourism empire around their beauty.
- The Power of Volcanoes: Volcanic eruptions can be bad, but they also fertilize the tiles around them, making them better and sometimes more appealing. A city near a volcano can become incredibly productive and a tourism hotspot over time. The trick is to manage the risk with Governor Liang and her “Reinforced Materials” promotion.
- National Parks Everywhere: The rugged, feature-rich terrain of a Primordial map is perfect for creating National Parks. Look for groups of high-Appeal tiles, usually near mountains, woods, and natural wonders. A well-planned National Park can generate a huge amount of tourism.
A Quick Example: As “Bull Moose” Teddy Roosevelt on a Primordial map, your abilities are a perfect match for the terrain. Settle near mountains and natural wonders to get the most Science and Culture from high-Appeal tiles. The Film Studio, unique to America, will boost the tourism from your cities even more. The wild but beautiful landscape of the Primordial map becomes your canvas for creating a world-famous cultural heritage.
The Word of God: Favorable Maps for a Religious Victory
A Religious Victory means you have to spread your faith to every corner of the world until it’s the main belief system. The best map for this helps your religious units move around and makes it easy to convert other civs.
Inland Sea: A Crossroads of Faith
The Inland Sea map has a large sea in the middle surrounded by a ring of land. This unique geography creates a very connected and contested world, which is perfect for spreading religion quickly.
How to Play It:
- Efficient Conversion Routes: The ring of land on the Inland Sea map lets your religious units move in a continuous loop, converting city after city without having to turn back. This makes spreading your religion super efficient. You can send one group of Apostles clockwise and another counter-clockwise to cover the whole map.
- Control the Sea, Control the Soul: While most of the action is on land, controlling the inland sea gives you a strategic advantage. A small navy can protect your coastal cities and even escort your religious units along the coast. It also lets you move religious units quickly from one side of the sea to the other to deal with rival religions.
- Theological Hotspots: Because the map is so connected, you’re going to have theological combat. Be ready to defend your faith with Debater-promoted Apostles. The central sea can become a neutral ground for theological battles. Winning these is key to getting rid of rival religions and showing your divine authority.
A Quick Example: Playing as Saladin of Arabia on an Inland Sea map, your goal is to found a religion as fast as you can, using your worship building’s bonus to science, faith, and culture. You’re guaranteed the last Great Prophet, but it’s still better to get one early. Build your Holy Sites with the Mosque and use the easy land routes to send out waves of Missionaries and Apostles to convert the world. Your unique Mamluk units can protect your religious units and handle any aggressive neighbors.
Small Continents: Spreading the Faith Across the Waters
It might seem strange, but a Small Continents map can be great for a Religious Victory, especially if you’re a civ that can buy things with Faith.
How to Play It:
- Isolate and Convert Early: The fact that civs are on separate small continents lets you completely convert your home continent without any interference from other religions. This gives you a secure base of faith to launch your global conversion effort from.
- Faith-Based Naval Power: Once your home continent is converted, you’ll need to cross the seas. Civs like Indonesia, which can buy naval units with Faith, or Norway, whose religious units can embark without extra movement cost, have a big advantage. Your navy’s job isn’t to conquer, but to escort your religious units and protect them.
- The Gurdwara and Religious Colonization: The Gurdwara worship building, which gives Food and Housing, is great for growing your cities. On a Small Continents map, you can use this growth to make settlers and “religiously colonize” small, empty islands. These new cities, founded with your religion, can be forward bases for converting nearby continents.
A Quick Example: As Gitarja of Indonesia on a Small Continents map, your unique Kampung improvement will let your coastal cities get big and productive. Use your Faith to buy a navy of Jongs to explore the world and find new continents to convert. Your religious units can embark and disembark easily, letting you launch surprise “theological invasions” on other civs. The mix of naval mobility and strong faith generation makes you a religious powerhouse on a fragmented world.
The Art of the Deal: Optimal Maps for a Diplomatic Victory
A Diplomatic Victory is about making alliances, influencing city-states, and using your Diplomatic Favor to win votes in the World Congress. The best maps for this are ones that encourage you to interact with others and give you lots of chances to generate Favor.
Archipelago: A Network of Alliances
An Archipelago map, a world of countless small islands, might seem isolating, but it can be a masterclass in diplomacy if you play it smart.
How to Play It:
- City-State Diplomacy is Everything: On an Archipelago map, city-states are everywhere. Becoming the Suzerain of a lot of city-states is the key to a Diplomatic Victory. Use your envoys wisely, focusing on city-states that give you Diplomatic Favor or other good bonuses. Your first priority should be to explore the map and meet as many city-states as you can.
- Naval Trade and Global Reach: A strong navy is key for connecting with other civs and city-states on all the islands. Set up a large network of trade routes to make gold and build relationships. The Kilwa Kisiwani wonder, which gives a big boost to the yields of your suzerained city-states, is a must-build.
- Aid Requests and Emergencies: The fragmented map means that civs and city-states are more likely to be hit by natural disasters and barbarians. This gives you frequent chances to join in aid requests and emergencies, which are great sources of Diplomatic Favor. Keeping a mobile army and a good treasury will let you respond to these crises and get the diplomatic rewards.
A Quick Example: Playing as Pericles of Greece on an Archipelago map, your extra envoy from building an Acropolis will give you a head start in the race for city-state suzerainty. Your Hoplites can defend your home islands from early barbarians. Focus on exploring the map with a fleet of Triremes, meeting every city-state and civ you can. Build the Potala Palace and the Mahabodhi Temple to get even more Diplomatic Favor. Your goal is to become the leader of a global network of allied city-states.
Shuffle: The Unpredictable Diplomat
The Shuffle map script creates a totally random and unpredictable world. This can be chaotic, but it’s also a golden opportunity for a Diplomat who can adapt to any situation.
How to Play It:
- Adapt and Explore: The key to winning on a Shuffle map is to be adaptable. You never know what kind of world you’ll get, so you need a flexible strategy. Your first priority should be to scout like crazy to understand the map’s unique geography and find where the other civs and city-states are.
- Find the Diplomatic Sweet Spot: Every Shuffle map has its own strategic landscape. Look for chances to be a mediator between warring civs or to protect vulnerable city-states. Your ability to read the political situation and position yourself as a force for stability will be your greatest asset.
- Information is Power: In a chaotic world, information is power. Invest in Spies to get diplomatic visibility on your rivals and find out their secret plans. Knowing what other leaders are planning will let you anticipate their moves in the World Congress and get support for your own proposals.
A Quick Example: As Wilfrid Laurier of Canada on a Shuffle map, your immunity to surprise wars gives you a big diplomatic advantage. You can build your nation in peace, focusing on generating Diplomatic Favor through tourism and emergencies. Since you can’t declare surprise wars, other leaders will see you as less of a threat and be more willing to cooperate. Use this to your advantage to build alliances and guide the World Congress toward your inevitable Diplomatic Victory.