I’m going to share my strategy for winning a Science Victory in Civilization 6. It’s an intellectual marathon, a test of long-range planning and strategic thinking, all focused on the power of technology. This isn’t about having the biggest army or the most beautiful art; it’s about being the smartest civilization on the map. I’ll take you through everything, from the first crucial moves in the Ancient Era to the final, tense countdown of the exoplanet launch. Let’s turn your civilization into a scientific powerhouse and leave your rivals in the cosmic dust.
Laying the Groundwork: Your Early Game Science Strategy
The foundation for a Science Victory is built right at the start. Your early decisions have long-lasting effects, setting the course for your entire game. This is where you establish your civilization, explore the world, and, most importantly, fire up the scientific engine that will carry you to victory.
The Best Scientific Minds: Choosing Your Leader
While you can win with any civ, some leaders are just naturally better at the science game. Picking the right one gives you a huge, often game-changing, advantage.
- Korea (Seondeok): Honestly, Korea is probably the best science civ out there. Their advantages are powerful and kick in right away. The Seowon, their special Campus, starts with a +4 Science bonus. The catch is that it loses science for every adjacent district, which creates a fun little city-planning puzzle. You’re rewarded for creating isolated, powerful science hubs. Seondeok’s ability also gives you more culture and science for every governor promotion, making for a great synergy.
- Scotland (Robert the Bruce): Scotland is a monster when it comes to production and science. If you can keep your cities Happy, you get a +5% bonus to both, and that doubles to a massive +10% in Ecstatic cities. Happy cities also generate extra Great Scientist and Engineer points. It creates a great feedback loop: a happy population boosts your science and industry, which lets you build more things to keep them happy.
- Germany (Frederick Barbarossa): Germany’s road to space is built on pure production. Their unique Hansa district gets huge adjacency bonuses, letting you create industrial centers that can pump out Campuses, buildings, and later, the space projects, incredibly fast. They aren’t a direct science civ, but their production power is the perfect engine for a science victory.
- Babylon (Hammurabi): If you want to try a high-risk, high-reward game, go with Babylon. When you trigger a Eureka, you get the entire technology instantly. This can shoot you eras ahead of everyone else. The downside is a -50% penalty to your regular science-per-turn, so it’s a challenging but thrilling way to play.
Your First Steps: Early Tech and Civics
Your first research and civic choices are critical. You want to unlock the core parts of a science-based economy as fast as you can.
- Technology: Your first research should always be Pottery. That lets you unlock Writing, which is the key to your Campus district. Get a Campus down in your capital as soon as you can. After that, I focus on techs that improve your land and unlock more science, like Bronze Working to see strategic resources and Masonry for early wonders.
- Civics: Start with Code of Laws to get your first policies. Then, I usually rush Craftsmanship for the Agoge policy to build early units for defense. Your main goal here is to get to Political Philosophy. This unlocks better governments, and the Classical Republic is a great choice for a science game because of its bonus to Great Person points.
The Geography of Genius: Where to Settle and Build
Where you put your cities and districts matters. A lot.
- Settlement Strategy: Look for spots near mountains and rainforests; they give your Campuses adjacency bonuses. Fresh water is also key for early population growth, and more people means more specialists to work your science buildings. Settle your first few cities fairly close to each other for easier trade and defense, but make sure each one has a good spot for a Campus.
- Campus Adjacency: This is the absolute bedrock of your science output. You should be aiming for at least a +3 bonus on your early Campuses. You get bonuses from:
- Mountains: +1 Science per mountain.
- Rainforests: +0.5 Science per rainforest.
- Geothermal Fissures: +1 Science.
- Reefs: +2 Science (for coastal cities).
- Districts: +0.5 Science for every two adjacent districts.
A good Campus tucked between mountains can give you a massive early science lead that sets the tone for the whole game.
The Engine of Progress: Mid-Game Strategies
The mid-game is where you shift gears from setting up your foundation to building an unstoppable engine of progress. This is all about expansion, specialization, and grabbing the key assets that will launch you to the stars.
Production is Power: The Unsung Hero of the Science Win
Science is the goal, but you can’t get there without production. You don’t just research your way to space; you have to build your way there.
- Industrial Zone Synergy: After the Campus, the Industrial Zone is your most important district. Place them strategically to get the best bonuses from mines, quarries, and aqueducts. The real magic comes from the regional buildings: the Factory and the Power Plant. A single, well-placed Industrial Zone with these buildings can boost production in all cities within a six-tile radius. Plan your cities to create “industrial hearts” that power multiple cities at once.
- Internal Trade Routes: Don’t sleep on internal trade routes. Sending traders from your new cities to your most productive one can give them a huge production boost, helping them get their own infrastructure up and running much faster.
- Chopping for Progress: While saving forests can be good for late-game lumber mills, don’t be afraid to chop them down with builders in the early and mid-game. It gives you an immediate burst of production to rush out a key district, wonder, or building, giving you a critical tempo advantage.
The Pursuit of Knowledge: Wonders and Great People
Wonders and Great People are force multipliers in a science game, giving you unique and powerful bonuses.
- Essential Wonders:
- The Oracle: A must-build. It makes Great People cheaper to buy with Faith and gives you more Great Person points in that city. Build it in a city with an early Campus to start grabbing those Great Scientists.
- The Great Library: Tough to build, but it gives a nice science boost and grants all Eurekas for ancient and classical techs.
- University of Sankore: Gives you a science bonus based on your trade routes to that city.
- Oxford University: A key wonder for any science victory. It gives a +20% science bonus to the city, two free technologies, and a ton of Great Scientist points.
- Ruhr Valley: This is a production powerhouse, giving a +20% production bonus to its city. This is the ultimate wonder for the city where you plan to build your spaceport.
- Great Scientists:
- Early Game: Scientists like Hypatia and Euclid can give you a great early lead.
- Mid Game: Look for Isaac Newton and Galileo Galilei for big science boosts.
- Late Game: This is where the real game-changers show up. Albert Einstein gives a passive science bonus, while Carl Sagan and Stephanie Kwolek directly add thousands of production to your Space Race projects.
The Art of the Eureka: Speeding Up Your Research
Eurekas, or tech boosts, cut the science cost of a technology by 40%. You have to trigger these consistently to stay ahead.
- Be Proactive: Don’t just wait for Eurekas to happen; hunt them down. Before you start researching a tech, check its Eureka requirement and make a plan. Need to build three different specialty districts? Plan your cities for it. Need to kill a unit with a Spearman? Go on the offensive.
- Use Your Spies: Later in the game, spies are perfect for stealing tech boosts from other civs. A well-placed spy can save you dozens of turns of research on critical late-game technologies.
The Final Frontier: The Race to the Stars
The late game is a high-stakes race against the clock. Your science engine should be running at full blast, and your focus needs to shift to completing the massive Space Race projects.
The Space Race: A Step-by-Step Guide
You win by completing five projects, all built in a city with a Spaceport.
- Launch Earth Satellite: The first step. It reveals the whole map, which is a great strategic bonus.
- Launch Moon Landing: The next step. It gives you a one-time culture boost.
- Launch Mars Colony: This is a three-part project. You can build all three parts at the same time in different cities with Spaceports.
- Launch Exoplanet Expedition: The final, most expensive project. The expedition has to travel 50 light-years to win.
- Speed It Up: You absolutely must build the two projects that speed up your expedition: the Lagrange Laser Station and the Terrestrial Laser Station. Each one makes your ship travel faster, cutting down the time it takes to win.
Power Policies for the Final Push
Your government and policy cards are critical for maximizing your late-game production and science.
- Governments: Democracy is great for its trade route bonuses, while Communism is a production powerhouse.
- Key Policy Cards: Look for Rationalism (+50% science from Campus buildings), Five-Year Plan (doubles Campus and Industrial Zone adjacency), Integrated Space Cell (+15% production to space projects), and Aerospace Contractors (a big production bonus to space projects).
The Final Sprint
In the last few turns, every single point of production counts.
- The Royal Society: This government building lets you use Builder charges to add production to your space projects. It’s an incredibly powerful way to rush the final stages.
- Chop and Buy: Don’t be afraid to chop down any remaining forests for a last-minute production boost. If you have the gold, buy builders to chop or even buy project progress directly.
- Defend Your Work: Your rivals won’t just sit back and watch you win. Expect them to declare war or send spies to sabotage you. Keep a modern army ready to defend your Spaceport cities and use your own spies to counter theirs.
A New Dawn
Winning a Science Victory in Civ 6 is an incredibly rewarding experience. It’s a true test of your ability to plan ahead, adapt, and use your civilization’s ingenuity to its fullest. By mastering these strategies, you can guide your people from the Stone Age to the stars. The journey is long, but the reward is the future itself.