In Early November, 2K Games announced the introduction of limited-time events for Civilization 6 players called Challenges of the Month. In short, each month, gamers could launch Civ 6 to find a new game option with pre-set conditions and leaders, with a single goal in mind.
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The first of these challenges, Age of Abundance, sets players as Pericles of Greece, challenging them to win through a cultural victory to receive one of the highly-coveted Hall of Fame badges. It's important to play to strengths and be wary of competition. Although the settings are all established, carelessness can easily allow another Civ to decimate and dominate in the Age of Abundance, which runs from November 14 to December 12, 2023.
How To Have A Strong Opening
- Produce Settlers
- Produce Acropolis
The game immediately throws players in with two cities, Athens and Argos. Both have good production times, and this allows players to quickly expand, although this is likely to be constrained to the central landmass until certain developments are met.
It's important to expand as fast as possible to prevent the nearby city-state of Mogadishu from enlarging into valuable rainforest tiles that can kickstart production later on. If players build up an army of settlers to go out and form new cities, the likelihood of this becoming a problem diminishes.
In terms of location, it is safe to settle on the continent Greece initially inhabits - it faces water on four sides and is uninhabited aside from Mogadishu. To move further, the left landmass is ideal, although Saladin will give warning for settling too close.
Alongside Saladin, who represents Arabia, six other civilizations will appear in Age of Abundance:
- Peter (Russia)
- Trajan (Rome)
- Catherine de Medici (France)
- Cleopatra (Egypt)
- Mvemba a Nzinga (Kongo)
- Pedro 2 (Brazil)
Few have bonuses that are relevant to a cultural victory, although Peter's stance on art and culture will often put the player at odds with him over the accumulation of great artists. These are worries for the late game, however, and instead, players should initially focus on settling.
When content with the claimed cities, players should focus on building a swarm of acropolises, the theater square building unique to Greece. These allow later, important developments, such as art museums, to have a solid foundation.
What To Build Early Game
- Build Amphitheaters
- Build Wonders
With acropolises complete, players can start to develop them into the more useful tools for a cultural victory; amphitheaters, followed by either art museums or archaeological museums. In general, choosing art museums gives players earlier and easier access to tourism boosts, as relics are a more late-game introduction. It's a good idea to limit archaeological museums to one or two and build an art museum in every other city available.
Alongside these structures, wonders should be built at all times. Although this can gradually become a secondary objective, limited to one or two cities, it should begin as a shortcut to better cultural numbers and an increase in tourists. A key early building should be the Bolshoi Ballet, which gives an early opportunity to store great musical works.
How To Increase Culture Early
- Utilize Great Writer and Great Artist Policy Cards
- Prioritize Peaceful Governments
When it comes to leading a cultural victory, the amount of artifacts, works of art, and literature players have is vital to a quick and decisive victory. Focusing on obtaining as many great artists and writers as possible (especially Machiavelli and his Discourses on Livy, which is highly coveted) through policy cards will increase point generation.
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To aid this, it is important to select a government that is of maximum effectiveness to a peaceful cultural victory. Theocracy or Fascism utilizes many military card slots that are more or less useless to achieving a cultural victory. Instead, use economic-heavy governments to ensure gold and tourism are always high.
Maintaining A Lead
- Introduce Spies
- Trade Great Works to complete collections
When reaching the Industrial Era, spies become very useful, either to steal great works from other civs, or simply to sabotage and gain quick gold. Only a handful are necessary, for whichever civs have several great works - in general, this is either Egypt or Brazil.
Once the art and relic collections are formidable, they should be moved around to create bonus collections based on era or art type. If there is a missing piece, trade it with another civ - any artwork is on the table as long as the necessary one eventually falls into the collection. The bonuses are key to retaining a lead as Greece's bonuses become weaker in the late game.
Alliances Work, Wars Don't
- Create Alliances
- Ignore Denouncing Civilizations
- Create International Trade Routes
As players progress through the game, other civs will start to take notice of cultural victories, and, with a few exceptions, will turn hostile. It will be common for a drawn-out game for every civ to eventually turn against the player, but this shouldn't deter peaceful play; dedicating time to war only complicates a simple system.
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Instead, ignore these opponents and build trade routes to as many civs as possible to maximize late-game tourism. It helps to have open borders too, in order to better maintain a steady flow of international tourists.
Late-game Choices
- Be Prepared For War
- Stay Peaceful At All Costs
It's worth mentioning that an enemy civ is likely to declare a surprise, and potentially dominating war at some point, which leaves cities and tourism - especially any built away from the main island - at risk. The ones to look out for are Rome and Arabia, but any civ can pose a threat.
Players shouldn't dedicate too many resources to warfare, especially since other civs may choose to develop armaments far earlier, and as a result, may be better equipped to attack than players are to defend. The ideal strategy is to have Greece wait out the war for ten turns, then ask for peace. It is almost certain that the attackers will accept it without needing any other resources.
Final Game Tips
- Build National Parks and Beach Resorts
- Undermine Enemies
Entering the modern era allows players to begin construction on national parks and beach resorts, two types of buildings that will boost the tourism of Greece. Building as many as possible is ideal, although national parks will be a tough task given the relatively tiny island Greece inhabits. Instead, prioritize beach resorts by flattening land by water, of which the player civ has plenty.
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In the final stages, either Cleopatra or Peter will likely be hot on the heels of success, potentially complicating the game by continuously pumping more into their respective tourism industries. Spies at this stage are enormously useful for undermining success, but players shouldn't let this become too big for fear of reprisals.
With all of the above done, players should eventually see victory with one of the Greek leaders, Pericles, especially since the game difficulty isn't too high. With a Hall of Fame badge and a new understanding of cultural tactics, players can rest themselves until the month's challenge arrives.
