In the grand strategy of Civilization 6, the seas often represent a barrier, a vast expanse to be crossed rather than a persistent battlefield. Naval warfare, while impactful, is typically a formal affair, declared and executed in the open. But imagine a fundamental shift in the laws of the sea. Consider a world where the skull and crossbones fly not just in times of war, but as a constant, predatory presence. This is the world we will explore: a reality where all naval raider units can slip across sovereign borders without an open borders agreement and without declaring war. Such a change would not be a minor tweak; it would be a cataclysmic upheaval, fundamentally rewriting the rules of economic strategy, coastal development, and international diplomacy from the Ancient Era to the Information Age. The raider, currently a tool of wartime harassment, would evolve into an instrument of perpetual economic attrition, making the oceans a realm of endless, undeclared conflict.
The New Rules of Maritime Power: Redefining Naval Raiders
Analysis on forums frequently points out that the current naval raider class, which includes units like the Privateer and the Submarine, is potent but situational. Its primary function—pillaging—is locked behind the formal declaration of war. This binary state of “peace” or “total war” means coastal economies are generally safe until the trumpets of war sound.
If this restriction were lifted, the very definition of a naval raider would transform. They would become true corsairs, operating in a legal gray area, disavowable by their home civilization yet ruthlessly effective. According to the player community, this would introduce a new strategic layer of “cold war” to the seas. A civilization could project power and inflict significant economic damage without committing to a full-scale, grievance-generating conflict. The raider would become a persistent threat, a shark circling the rich waters of a rival’s coastline, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. This paradigm shift means a player’s coastline is never truly safe, forcing a complete re-evaluation of national security and economic planning.
Economic Warfare as a Primary Doctrine
The most profound consequence of this hypothetical change would be the elevation of economic warfare from a secondary tactic to a primary strategic doctrine. For civilizations with strong naval traditions, piracy would become a viable, and perhaps even optimal, path to prosperity.
The Coastal Pillage Economy
Many professional gamers suggest that civilizations like Norway would become economic powerhouses of unparalleled might. The Viking Longship’s ability to perform coastal raids would no longer be a temporary wartime advantage but a continuous source of income from the dawn of seafaring. A small fleet of Longships could systematically cycle through the coastal tiles of multiple neighbors, pillaging fishing boats, sea resources, and seaside resorts. The yields from this constant raiding—gold, science, culture, and faith—could fuel an entire empire’s growth, allowing it to surge ahead in technology and civics while its victims are perpetually repairing their ravaged coastlines. Analysis on forums shows that the Ottoman Empire, with its Barbary Corsair, would be similarly dominant. The Corsair’s unique ability to raid without consuming a movement point would allow a single unit to cripple an entire coastline in a few turns, extracting immense wealth and leaving devastation in its wake.
Strangulation of Global Trade
Trade routes are the arteries of a thriving empire. In this new reality, these arteries would be perpetually vulnerable. A single, well-positioned raider could sever a lucrative international trade route, not only stealing gold for its owner but, more importantly, denying the target civilization its expected income. A popular strategy would be to identify the most valuable trade routes of a rival—those generating significant gold, production, or key alliances—and assign raiders to permanently camp on those sea lanes. The economic damage would be twofold: the immediate loss of the trade route’s yield and the long-term chilling effect on commerce. Players would become hesitant to send traders across open waters, potentially forcing them into less profitable but safer internal routes, thereby slowing their economic momentum.
Perpetual District Disruption
The impact would extend far beyond simple resource tiles. Coastal districts, the engines of urban development, would become prime targets. A raider could slip into a harbor and pillage the Shipyard, halting naval production. It could then move to the Campus and pillage the Library, setting back technological progress. Next, the Theater Square’s Amphitheater could be plundered, crippling cultural output. Because this can be done without a declaration of war, the defender is caught in a strategic bind. They can either declare a costly war to remove a single, annoying unit, or they can repeatedly spend production to repair their districts, falling further and further behind. This creates a debilitating choice between escalating a conflict or bleeding resources dry.
The Peril of Civilian Life
Civilian units, the unsung heroes of expansion and improvement, would face a new and constant danger. Builders constructing seaside resorts or offshore wind farms could be captured in a flash. Settlers moving along the coast to found a new city would be exceptionally high-value targets. The player community agrees that this would make coastal expansion a high-risk, high-reward gamble. Founding a city on the coast would mean immediate access to the sea, but it would also mean the city’s foundational civilian units are under constant threat from the moment they are produced.
A Paradigm Shift in Early-Game Strategy
This change would ripple backward through the eras, fundamentally altering the strategic calculus of the early game. The race for naval superiority would begin not in the Renaissance, but the moment the first two civilizations build a coastal city.
The Rise of Coastal Defense
Currently, many players can afford to neglect their navies until the mid-game, focusing instead on land-based expansion and military. In a world of border-ignoring raiders, this would be suicide. Leaving a coastline undefended would be an open invitation for economic ruin. A popular strategy would be to immediately invest in a defensive naval force. Even a couple of Galleys, tasked with patrolling home waters, would become a mandatory investment to deter opportunistic raiders. The strategic importance of choke points, like narrow seas and island chains, would skyrocket, as they would offer ideal locations to intercept and destroy these predatory units. Encampment districts with the Water Battery building would become a much higher priority for coastal cities.
Re-evaluating Settlement Locations
Community wisdom suggests that the “settle on the coast” meta, often a default for the powerful bonuses of a Harbor and sea resources, would be seriously challenged. Players would have to weigh the benefits of a coastal capital against the immense risk of constant harassment. A new, dominant strategy might emerge: settling one or two tiles inland. This would protect the City Center from direct naval attack and create a buffer zone for civilian units. Coastal cities would still be founded, but they would be seen as forward-operating bases, heavily fortified and built with the expectation of facing constant naval pressure. The calculus for city placement would forever be altered, with defensibility against sea-lanes becoming as important a consideration as fresh water or bonus resources.
Mid-Game Mayhem: Privateers and the Dawn of Global Piracy
The Renaissance and Industrial Eras would see this new form of conflict reach its zenith. With the arrival of the Privateer, a dedicated raider unit available to all civilizations, the entire globe would descend into a state of naval anarchy.
The Global Privateer Network
A player with a strong naval infrastructure could churn out a fleet of Privateers and dispatch them to every corner of the globe. These units could harass multiple civilizations simultaneously, acting as a global tax on their economies. Because Privateers are invisible unless adjacent to an enemy unit, they could lurk undetected for turns, gathering intelligence and waiting for the perfect moment to strike a newly completed district or a vulnerable trade route. Many professional gamers suggest this would lead to the formation of “anti-piracy coalitions,” where multiple civilizations band together to hunt down the fleets of a notorious pirate-king, creating a dynamic and organic diplomatic landscape.
Diplomatic Chaos and New Grievances
The diplomatic ramifications would be immense. How would a civilization react to one of its neighbors openly profiting from the pillaging of its coastline? The current grievance system is ill-equipped to handle this. A new Casus Belli would almost certainly need to be introduced: “Failure to Contain Piracy.” This would allow a civilization to declare a formal war with fewer grievances if their target has been relentlessly raiding their shores. Conversely, a civilization might be able to pay a rival with a strong navy to act as a “privateer hunter,” creating a mercenary-style relationship on the high seas. The world of international relations would become a murky web of plausible deniability, undeclared wars, and temporary alliances of convenience.
Late-Game Subterfuge: The Submarine as the Ultimate Raider
As the world progresses into the Modern and Atomic eras, the threat would not diminish; it would merely become quieter and more lethal. The Submarine, already a master of stealth, would become the ultimate instrument of economic subterfuge.
The Invisible Economic Assassin
A fleet of Submarines, able to ignore borders and remain unseen, would be a nightmare for any global power. They could slip into the most heavily defended harbors and systematically dismantle a player’s economy from the inside out. Offshore oil rigs, vital for late-game military production, would be exceptionally vulnerable. Power plants, providing electricity to entire industrial zones, could be pillaged, plunging a nation into darkness. The constant threat of these invisible assassins would force empires to invest heavily in anti-submarine warfare, making the Destroyer not just a fleet escort, but a vital component of national security.
A New Dimension of Nuclear Tension
The tension would escalate dramatically with the advent of nuclear weapons. A Submarine carrying a nuclear missile could lurk off an enemy’s coast indefinitely, holding their coastal cities hostage. This creates a new, terrifying dimension to nuclear deterrence. It’s no longer just about missile silos and strategic bombers; it’s about the silent, unseen threat waiting just beyond the horizon, a threat that can appear at any time, without warning.
Counter-Strategies: Adapting to a World of Pervasive Piracy
To survive in this brutal new world, players would need to develop a new set of defensive and adaptive strategies. Complacency would be a death sentence.
The “Q-Ship” Patrol Force
A popular strategy would be the creation of a dedicated defensive navy, often referred to by the community as a “Q-Ship” force. This would not be a main battle fleet designed to engage in decisive naval battles. Instead, it would be a patrol force of fast, nimble ships—like Destroyers or even earlier melee units with speed-enhancing promotions—tasked with hunting down raiders in home waters. These patrols would be a constant drain on the treasury but a necessary expense to protect the economic heartland.
Fortified Coastlines and Strategic Wonders
The value of coastal fortifications would increase tenfold. Every coastal city would need walls and, ideally, an Encampment district with a full complement of defensive buildings. Wonders like the Venetian Arsenal, which creates a second naval unit every time one is trained, would become top-tier priorities, allowing a player to quickly build a defensive fleet. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, which grants an extra charge to Great Admirals, would also be highly coveted, as a well-promoted Great Admiral could be the anchor of a powerful coastal defense force.
Economic Diversification and Resilience
According to the player community, over-reliance on a coastal economy would be a critical strategic error. A wise ruler would seek to build a more resilient and diversified economy. This would mean prioritizing internal trade routes, which are immune to naval raiding. It would also mean developing inland cities with strong industrial and commercial hubs, creating an economic core that is insulated from the chaos of the seas. Coastal cities would still be valuable, but they would be one part of a larger, more balanced economic system.
Conclusion
The ability for all naval raiders to enter enemy territory without open borders would be more than a simple rule change; it would be a fundamental reimagining of power in Civilization 6. The oceans would transform from empty spaces into a dynamic and dangerous chessboard of constant, low-grade conflict. Economic warfare would become a primary and persistent strategy, forcing players to defend their coastlines with a desperation not seen in the current version of the game. This single, elegant change would add layers of strategic depth, diplomatic intrigue, and economic tension, forcing every leader to truly master the art of sea power or risk having their empire washed away by the relentless tide of piracy.