Fastest Culture Victory Civs, Ranked

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Catherine de Medici – Magnificence

Winning a fast Culture victory in Civilization 6 is harder than it sounds. Culture and Science are two things that just about every civ puts some amount of emphasis on, and can be hard to counter. But if you employ the right strategies – and have some good luck – earning a Culture victory quickly is far from impossible.

10 Best Ancient Era Civilizations In Civilization 6

Players looking to dominate the Ancient Era in Civilization 6 may want to go with the following civs.

Some civs might be able to pump out Tourism more reliably, or are generally suited for more varied situations, than these recommended quick Culture victory civs. Civ 6 players will find that under the right conditions, these quick Culture victory civs can get everyone else to wear their blue jeans and listen to their rock music faster than any other.

Jayavarman VII – Khmer

Khmer Relic Rush Is A Strong, But Specific, Strategy

Jayavarman VII Leader Ability: Monasteries of the King	Holy Sites grant Food equal to its Adjacency Bonus, gain +2 Adjacency from Rivers, +2 Housing if built next to a River, and trigger a Culture Bomb.
Khmer Civ Ability: Grand Barays	Aqueducts provide +1 Amenity, and +1 Faith for each Citizen in the city. Farms get +2 Food if placed next to an Aqueduct, and +1 Faith next to a Holy Site.
Unique Units	Domrey (Medieval Siege unit), Prasat (+6 Faith, Relic slot, extra Housing, Culture, and Food with certain beliefs, +0.5 Culture for every Citizen.

The Khmer are normally thought of as a primarily Religious civilization, as their bonuses come from Holy Sites placed next to rivers and a special building that grants Relic Slots and bonus Faith generation (and a Culture Bomb to boot).

But if you specialize in generating Culture with Relics as Jayavarman VII, and grow your cities as large as possible, you can get one of the fastest Culture victories in Civ 6.

The Prasat contains a Relic slot and generates 0.5 Culture for every Population in the city, in addition to a host of other bonuses. Quickly get the Great Bath to prevent flood damage and get the Hanging Gardens to boost your growth even further.

Later on, rush St Basil’s Cathedral to increase religious tourism from Relics, and rush the Mont St. Michael so that all of your Missionaries and Apostles create a Relic on death to fill all the extra slots you have.

Kristina – Sweden

Focus On Wonders & Great Work Slots For High Tourism

Kristina Leader Ability: Minerva of the North	Buildings with 3x Great Work slots and Wonders with 2x Great Work slots automatically become Themed when filled. Unlocks Queen’s Biblioteche (Government Plaza building with a variety of Great Work slots)
Sweden Civ Ability: Nobel Prize	+50 Diplomatic Favor whenever you get a Great Person. +1 Engineer or Scientist point for every Factory or University. Gain 3x unique World Congress competitions in the Industrial Era.
Unique Units	Carolean (Renaissance Anti-Cavalry unit), Open-Air Museum (+2 Loyalty, +2 Culture & Tourism for every type of Terrain in your city. Only one can be built in each city.)

Kristina used to be one of the most broken civs in Civilization VI, but after some changes, she’s now merely an extremely good civ, not an overpowered one. Kristina automatically Themes all Buildings and Wonders with Great Work Slots, doubling Tourism and Culture output without any effort from the player.

Shaka, Chandragupta, and Genghis Khan from Civilization 6

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The Queen’s Bibliotheque unique building contains no less than six Great Work slots for various types, and the Open-Air Museum can be an enormous boost to Culture and Tourism if your cities have a lot of terrain variety.

Focus on building Wonders with at least 2x Great Work slots, and Buildings with at least 3x Great Work Slots, and rush the Theater District as fast as you can. Make all the buildings for this district quickly to reap Great Person Points and quickly gather Great Works of Art, Music, and Writing.

Then, metaphorically speaking, all you have to do sit back and relax (and continue upgrading and progressing as normal) as your Tourism rapidly overtakes every other culture over the next few ages.

Peter – Russia

Absorb Culture & Build Wide For Massive Tourism

Peter Leader Ability: The Grand Embassy	Trade Routes with other Civilizations grant +1 Science and +1 Culture for every 3 Technologies or Civics they are ahead of Russia
Russia Civ Ability: Mother Russia	Gain 5 extra tiles on founding a city, Tundra tiles grant +1 Faith and +1 Production. Units are immune to Blizzard, but civilizations at war with Russia suffer double penalties inside Russian territory.
Unique Units	Cossack (Industrial Era), Lavra (Replaces Holy District, expand by 2 tiles in the nearest city whenever you spend a Great Person there)

Peter is widely thought of as, generally, the best leader in Civilization 6 as his unique Leader bonus and Russia’s unique civilization abilities can be used to power through just about every victory track. Though he can win any victory relatively easily, he excels particularly at the Culture and Religious victories.

To win the fastest Culture victory as Peter, Civ VI players should rush Faith early for the Dance of the Aurora pantheon, which grants bonuses for Tundra tiles, then focus on settling cities. You get more tiles when founding a city, and whenever Great People are spent in a city it gains 2 tiles. Because you’ll be pumping out Great Artists, Musicians, and Writers, your cities will expand extremely quickly.

Make sure to have enough Builders to take advantage of your rapid expansion.

In terms of wonders, rush St Basil’s Cathedral in the city that creates the most Faith and can hold the most Relics. This doubles Tourism from this city from Relics, which are produced whenever Missionaries and Apostles with the Martyr perk die.

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Civilization 6 has tons of different mods players can try out. Fans of the series will love the changes that these exceptional mods bring.

Get the Mont St. Michael Wonder to ensure all of your Religious units have this promotion to quickly gather Relics. If you can gather Great People quickly, fill out your Theater and Holy Site Districts with Great Works, and establish Trade Routes with other Civs to keep up with your Science production, earning a quick Culture victory is easy as Peter.

Catherine de Medici – Magnificence

Hoard Luxury Resources & Wonders For Enormous Tourism

Catherine de Medici Leader Ability: Catherine’s Magnificences	+2 Culture for improved Luxury Resources next to Theater Square or Château. Unlocks the Court Festival project, which grants Culture and Tourism based on how many excess copies of Luxury Resources you have.
French Civ Ability: Grand Tour	+20% Production towards Medieval, Renaissance, and Industrial Era Wonders. Wonders grant 2x normal Tourism in every era.
Unique Units	Garde Imperiale (Industrial Melee unit), Château (Tile improvement, grants Culture, Gold, Appeal, and extra Culture if next to a Wonder)

There are two versions of Catherine de Medici in Civilization 6, but the Magnificence version is significantly stronger when it comes to getting fast Culture victories. Civ VI pairs this version of Catherine with the French civilization, which doubles the Tourism of Wonders and grants Production bonuses for building Wonders from the Medieval to Industrial eras.

This pairs extremely well with Catherine’s Leader ability, which grants extra Culture for Luxury Resources next to either a Theater district or a Château, a unique French building. When placed next to a wonder, Châteaus generate extra yields of all types, including Appeal to nearby tiles.

She can also initiate a Court Festival in cities with a Theater Square, significantly boosting Culture and Tourism based on your copies of luxury resources in that city.

Civilization 6: Best Pantheon

Players who are having trouble choosing their pantheon in Civilization 6 can find details on the best ones for each victory type here.

So, the strategy goes something like this – focus on building your Culture foundations in the early game, swap to Industry and Production to grab as many Wonders as you can, and harvest every Luxury Resource and trade for copies of Luxury Resources you already have to maximize the bonuses of the Court Festival.

It sounds like a lot to juggle, and compared to some simpler civs, Catherine de Medici (Magnificence) is definitely on the more complex side. But if you get lucky with your founding city placement next to lots of Luxury Resources, and can effectively snag useful Culture Wonders during the Medieval through Industrial eras, you will be significantly ahead by the time the Modern era rolls around.

Continue to build out your Theater Squares, snag Great Works, and run Court Festivals in your cities when they get copies of Luxury Resources, and you will be on route for one of the fastest Culture victories Civ VI players can get.