A Guide to Playing as the Korean Seondeok Civ 6 Leader in Civilization 6

Queen Seondeok was the queen of Silla who established an alliance with China that led to the unification of the Korean peninsula. Seondeok is also a Korean Civ 6 leader from the Rise and Fall and Gathering Storm Civilization 6 expansions, who isn’t available in the base game. Playing as Seondeok of Korea offers significant scientific advantages for obtaining a space race victory.

Seondeok’s Unique Leader Bonus

Seondeok’s Hwarang leader bonus increases science and culture generated in your cities that include governors. Hwarang applies a 3% science and 3% culture bonus for each promotion a governor in a city has. That bonus stacks for governors with more titles, enabling more significant science and culture bonuses for those with more promotions.

The Korean Three Kingdoms Civ Ability

Three Kingdoms is the unique civ ability for Korea. This ability generates +1 food and +1 science yields for farms and mines beside the Seowon scientific districts. A farm generates +1 food and mine +1 science when beside a Seowon.

Korea’s Unique Infrastructure and Unit

Seowon is Korea’s unique science district that replaces the Campus. This is a unique infrastructure with a starting adjacency bonus of +4 science, but that is reduced by -1 for each adjacent district. For example, placing a Seowon beside two other districts will reduce its starting adjacency bonus to +2. Seowon has half the production cost of a Campus, but you can only add it to hill tiles.

Hwacha is Korea’s unique ranged unit replacement for the Field Cannon. This unique unit is quicker to build and has a lower maintenance cost than the Field Cannon. It can also attack after moving when its max movement is +3 or higher.

Strategy and Tips for Winning With the Seondeok Civ 6 Leader

Seondeok is a Civ 6 leader who excels in science, which makes her a good choice for winning space races. Her strength in science is primarily due to Korea’s unique Seowon infrastructure. Korea’s Three Kingdoms leader bonus is very closely connected to that unique district, as you must place farms and mines beside Seowons to exploit it. The Hwarang leader bonus also enables you to boost science output even more when playing as Seondeok.

First and foremost, make sure you establish your cities near hills when playing as the Seondeok Civ 6 leader. You cannot build science districts without hills to place the Seowons on. So, keep an eye out for hills and establish new cities near them so you can build many Seowon districts without much restriction.

One thing to note is that city centers count as adjacent districts in Civilization 6. Building a Seowon on a hill right next to a city center will reduce its starting adjacency bonus to +3. Avoid placing other districts around hills that will reduce your Seowon adjacency bonuses.

To further boost your science output from Seowon districts, select the Natural Philosophy policy card. That policy card has a 100% Campus district adjacency effect that also applies to the Seowon. Thus, selecting that card will enable you to double the adjacency bonus science generated by your Seowon districts.

Don’t forget to maximize the Three Kingdom bonus by adding farms and mines to tiles around your Seowons. Mine all tiles you can around your Seowons for some additional science yields. Then, add farms to flat land around those districts for extra food yields.

Governors should also be a part of your strategy when playing as the Seondeok Civ 6 leader. Build a Plaza district so that you can appoint more governors. Then, focus on promoting, rather than appointing, a smaller number of selected governors to maximize the science and culture generated by the Hwarang leader bonus. To get more governor titles, build the Casa de Contratación wonder beside a Plaza district.

Pingala is the first and most important governor you should appoint and promote in a city with a Seowon district. He will increase science and cultural output in his city by 15% from his default tier alone. Then, select his Researcher, Grants, and Space Initiative promotions to boost science output all the more.

Communism is the best government to select when playing for a space victory with Seondeok and other Civ 6 leaders. Selecting that government in Gathering Storm will increase science output by 10%. Its effects also increase production for space race projects in Gathering Storm and Rise and Fall.

Domination is perhaps the best alternative victory to condition to play for as Seondeok because scientific advancement is crucial for war. Even though Seondeok doesn’t offer any military bonuses, her scientific strength is invaluable for unlocking all the best war technologies faster than other civilizations. You can play for the Domination Victory condition with a big emphasis on increasing scientific research and production for units, much the same as a space race. Unlocking all the best military hardware before other civilizations will enable you to crush your enemies’ less advanced armies.

So, Seondeok is undoubtedly one of the best Civ 6 leaders for winning a Science Victory condition in the Rise and Fall and Gathering Storm expansions. The Seowon is among the best unique districts in Civilization 6 that gives players a decisive scientific advantage. That, combined with the Hwarang leader bonus and Three Kingdoms civ ability, makes Seondeok hard to beat in a space race.