8 Tips for Winning a Civilization 6 Science Victory

The Civilization 6 Science Victory condition is a space race to reach Mars. To reach Mars first, you must unlock all technologies required, build Spaceport districts, and complete five space projects. Faster scientific research and more productive cities are crucial to winning space races. I’ve won numerous scientific victories in Civilization 6, and these are my tips to help you do the same.

Prioritize Research for Unlocking Campus Buildings

Increasing science yields and output is crucial to winning a Civilization 6 Science Victory. So, you should prioritize researching and unlocking technologies that enable you to build the Campus district buildings of the Library, the University, and the Research Lab. Those buildings are crucial for increasing science output. Unlocking those buildings sooner rather than later will enable you to build them before other civilizations and get ahead on the tech tree. These are some of the most important technologies to research for securing science victories:

• Education (for University)
• Writing (for Campus and Library)
• Chemistry (for Research Lab)
• Apprenticeship(for Industrial Zone and Workshop)
• Industrialization (for Factory)
• Scientific Theory (for Oxford wonder)
• Rocketry (for Spaceport districts and Earth Satellite)
• Satellites (for the Moon Landing)
• Nuclear Fission (for Mars Reactor)
• Nanotechnology (for Mars Hydroponics)
• Robotics (for Mars Habitation)

Play With the Best Leaders for Science Victories

Some leaders are better than others for winning a Civilization 6 Science Victory. Leaders with bonuses, unique infrastructure, or civ abilities that can boost science output will give you a better chance of winning a space race. Civilization leaders who offer significant production advantages can also help you complete space projects faster. So, select to play with the best leaders for science victories that this Retbit guide tells you about.

Establish a Suzerain at Geneva

Geneva is a scientific city-state in Civilization 6. This is a city-state with a great suzerain bonus for players seeking a Civilization 6 Science Victory. Establishing a suzerain at Geneva will give your civilization a substantical 15% empire-wide science output boost. So, try to find the Geneva city-state and establish a suzerain there when you can.

Optimize Science Output With Policy Cards

Some policy cards can also give your civilization a significant science output increase when selected. So, it makes good sense to optimize your scientific output with such cards when playing for a Civilization 6 Science Victory. These are some of the policy cards to select for optimizing your science output:

• Rationalism (provides a 100% science output from Campus district buildings)
• Raj (+2 science yields for each of your city-state suzerains)
• Military Research (Each of your Seaports and Military Academies generates +1 science)
• Natural Philosophy (100% adjacency yield bonus for Campus districts)
• Market Economy (Each of your trade routes provides +2 science yields)

Increase City Production With Ecommerce Trade Routes

Ecommerce is the best policy card for boosting your trade routes. Although this policy card doesn’t provide any scientific bonus, it gives each of your trade routes a +5 production yield increase when selected. This policy card effect enables you to significantly increase production for space projects at cities with Spaceports. For example, recruiting four Traders at one Spaceport city will increase its production by +20. A 10-20 percent production increase like that will enable you to complete your space projects somewhat faster.

Plant Trees to Increase City Production

To further enhance production at your Spaceport cities, try planting trees on their grass tiles. Each wood tile has a +1 production yield. However, you can increase that yield to +2 by adding lumber mills to the woods tiles. Thus, more tree tiles amount to better city production for space projects.

Invest Gold or Faith in Great Scientist Patronage

There are 21 great scientists in Civilization 6 for boosting scientific research and space project production. The best of these scientists, such as Kwolek, Sagan, Einstein, and Newton, can be invaluable for securing science victories in Civilization 6. To attract more great scientists to your civilization sooner, save and invest your gold and faith in great scientist patronage. Patronage effectively enables you to buy great scientists with gold and faith sooner.

Declare War on a Civilization That Might Beat You

If there’s a civilization that might be too far ahead in the space race to catch, declaring war on it could be the best option to tip things in your favor. Although it’s possible to sabotage space race production with Spies, they’re not usually reliable for that purpose. If you declare war on a civilization, it’s easier to destroy their Spaceports. Try to capture enemy cities with Spacesports to devastate the civilization’s space projects.

Of course, you must win your war against a rival space race civilization for this to work. To ensure you do, make sure you have some Stealth Jets and an air force at your disposal before declaring war, along with some Tanks or Helicopter units. Such units will make it somewhat easier to capture enemy Spaceport cities during a late-game war.

I hope those Civilization 6 Space Victory tips help you boldly go where nobody has gone before. Winning a space race isn’t necessarily rocket science in Civilization 6. Focus on increasing your civilization’s science output in various ways and establishing a few very productive cities for completing space projects to secure your place on Mars. Good luck, and enjoy the race into space!