In Civilization 6, while most players are focused on building armies or chasing cultural victories, there’s a more subtle and, frankly, more devastating strategy waiting to be used. It’s a method that doesn’t rely on brute force but on patience, economic strangulation, and psychological warfare to make an empire collapse from within. I’m talking about the Economic Siege, a way to weaponize your treasury and your opponent’s own citizens to bring them to their knees without ever declaring a major war.
Forget what you think you know about winning. The Economic Siege is a masterclass in soft power, a series of quiet moves that lead to a surprisingly fast and satisfying conquest. It’s the ultimate “work smarter, not harder” approach, and in a game as complex as Civ 6, its elegance is matched only by its effectiveness. Here’s my blueprint for how to pull it off and dominate your opponents in a way they’ll never see coming.
The Philosophy: Your Empire as a Financial Superweapon
The core idea is to turn your civilization into an economic engine built for aggressive expansion. Your primary weapon isn’t the sword or the crossbow; it’s the gold coin. Every decision, from placing a Commercial Hub to sending a trader, is a calculated move to make you richer while systematically making your rivals poorer.
Your goal is to create a massive wealth gap. A rich empire can afford the best technology, bribe city-states, and easily fund a war. A poor empire is fragile. Its military is outdated, its cities are underdeveloped, and its people are unhappy. This is the weakness you’ll exploit.
Building Your Economic Engine: The Foundation
Before you can wage economic war, you have to become a powerhouse yourself. This is non-negotiable and starts from turn one.
- Prioritize Commercial Hubs and Harbors: Don’t just build them; build them strategically. Look for river confluences to get the best adjacency bonuses for Commercial Hubs. For coastal cities, Harbors should be one of the first districts you build.
- Lean into a Market Economy: The policy cards that boost trade route yields and district adjacencies are the cornerstones of your early economy. Plug in cards like Caravansaries (+2 Gold from trade routes) and Town Charters (+100% adjacency for Commercial Hubs) as soon as you can.
- Embrace the Merchant Republic: Rushing the Political Philosophy civic is crucial. The Merchant Republic government is the perfect choice, giving you extra economic policy slots and another trade route.
- Generate Great Merchants: Actively chase Great Merchants. Their abilities, like creating a unique luxury resource or giving you a lump sum of gold, are incredibly valuable. Building The Oracle early on can give you a huge boost in generating them.
- Quick Example: Let’s say you’re playing as Mansa Musa of Mali. Your unique Commercial Hubs (Sugubas) already give you a gold advantage. By settling near large deserts, you can create incredibly profitable trade routes. If you add the Desert Folklore pantheon for extra faith, you’ll have the perfect foundation for an Economic Siege.
Weaponizing Your Wealth: Economic Warfare
Once your economy is booming, it’s time to turn your financial strength into a weapon. This is where you shift from passively making money to actively attacking your opponent’s economy.
The Covert War: Spies as Saboteurs
Spies are your primary agents of economic destruction. In the right hands, a good spy is more devastating than a catapult.
- Train Spies Early: As soon as you unlock the Diplomatic Service civic, start training spies. The earlier they start, the more promotions they can get, making them much more effective.
- Mission Critical: Siphon Funds: Your spies’ main job is to Siphon Funds from your target’s Commercial Hubs. This not only gives you gold but directly drains your opponent’s treasury, delaying their progress.
- The Ripple Effect: Don’t underestimate missions like Sabotage Production. By hitting your opponent’s high-production cities, you can grind their military and infrastructure development to a halt. Imagine them trying to build a key wonder, only to have their production sabotaged over and over.
- Quick Example: You’re playing as Catherine de Medici of France, whose spies are naturally better. You identify Germany as a threat. By dispatching your promoted spies to his powerful Industrial Zones, you can repeatedly siphon funds and sabotage production, preventing him from building up his army and leaving him vulnerable.
The World Congress: Your Diplomatic Weapon
The World Congress can feel random, but in an Economic Siege, it’s where you manipulate the global economy.
- Farm Diplomatic Favor: To have influence, you need Diplomatic Favor. Become the suzerain of as many city-states as you can. Build wonders like the Országház and Potala Palace.
- Targeted Embargoes: The most powerful tool here is the Embargo. If you can successfully pass an embargo on a luxury resource your target depends on, you can tank their amenities, causing unhappiness and rebellion.
- Weaponize Aid Requests: When a natural disaster hits an opponent, you might be asked to provide aid. Voting against it can strain their economy even further, as they might spend their own gold to complete the request.
- Quick Example: You’re playing as Pericles of Greece and have a ton of Diplomatic Favor. Your rival, Montezuma, relies heavily on a single source of diamonds. In the World Congress, you propose an embargo on diamonds. It passes. Now, his empire, already weakened by your spies, faces widespread unhappiness, spawning rebels and crippling his cities’ productivity.
The Loyalty Cascade: Making an Empire Collapse
This is the payoff, where all your subtle work leads to a spectacular collapse. The goal is to create a “loyalty cascade,” where one city flipping to your side triggers a chain reaction that brings a chunk of your opponent’s empire under your control.
The Tools of Subversion
- Governors: A governor like Amani, placed in a city-state bordering your target, can exert immense loyalty pressure. Victor, in one of your own border cities, can amplify the pressure you’re already putting out.
- Bread and Circuses: This city project is a direct and powerful tool for crushing the loyalty of nearby foreign cities. Run it in multiple border cities at once to create a pincer of negative loyalty.
- Population and Proximity: The basic mechanics of loyalty are on your side. Your large, happy cities will naturally pressure smaller, less loyal foreign cities. This is why building a strong core empire first is so important.
- Religion: Spreading a religion with the Crusade belief (+10 Combat Strength in foreign cities with your religion) can be a great final touch, giving your military a decisive edge when you move in to secure newly flipped cities.
- Quick Example: You’re playing as Eleanor of Aquitaine, whose Great Works naturally drain loyalty from nearby foreign cities. You’ve spent the game collecting Great Works while running Bread and Circuses in your border cities. Your spies have been draining your target’s gold, so they can’t respond. Soon, one of their cities flips, becoming a free city that now also pressures its former neighbors. A domino effect begins, and a huge part of their empire peacefully joins you.
The Coup de Grâce: Sealing the Deal
The Economic Siege is a long game, but there often comes a point where you need one final push. This is where you spend the massive treasury you’ve been building.
The Mercenary Army
- Levy City-State Militaries: As suzerain, you can pay to temporarily control city-state armies. Suddenly, a large, disposable army is on your opponent’s doorstep.
- The Grand Master’s Chapel: If you’ve been generating faith, this building lets you buy military units with it, allowing you to raise a surprise army out of nowhere.
- Upgrade Your Army: All those outdated units you have? In a single turn, you can use your gold to upgrade them into a modern, cutting-edge military.
The “Liberation” War
You’ve avoided war all game, but now it might be time for a quick, surgical strike. You won’t declare a surprise war, though. You’ll use a proper Casus Belli, like a Protectorate War or War of Retribution, which generates far fewer grievances and keeps you in good standing with the rest of the world.
Your opponent’s empire is in chaos. Their economy is broken, their cities are rebelling, and a mercenary army is at their gates. Your own advanced military is ready to strike. The final “war” is usually a swift cleanup. You aren’t conquering a thriving empire; you’re absorbing a failed state.
Conclusion: The Quiet Conqueror
The Economic Siege shows just how deep and complex Civilization 6 can be. It proves that the most powerful weapon isn’t always the most obvious one. By mastering economic warfare, diplomatic manipulation, and loyalty pressure, you can dominate the game in a way that is both incredibly satisfying and effective.
So, the next time you start a game, think about leaving the battering rams in the barracks and picking up the ledger book instead. You might find that the quiet whisper of economic ruin is far more powerful than the roar of war.