A Guide to Playing as the Wilhelmina Civilization 6 Netherlands Leader

Wilhelmina was the long-serving queen of the Netherlands who supported the Dutch resistance during World War II. She’s the leader of the Netherlands that you can select to play as in the Civilization 6 Rise and Fall and Gathering Storm expansions. Holland is one of the more productive civilizations in Civ 6. The Wilhelmina Civilization 6 Netherlands leader offers good, unique infrastructure and bonuses for boosting production, science, and cultural yields.

The Wilhelmina Radio Oranje Leader Bonus

Wilhelmina’s Radio Oranje leader bonus gives each of your foreign civilization trade routes sent and received +2 culture yields. For example, five trade routes sent to foreign civilizations will generate +10 more culture yields than usual. This bonus also provides +2 loyalty per turn for trade routes sent to domestic cities.

Netherlands’ Grote Rivieren Civ Ability

Grote Rivieren is the Civilization 6 Netherlands’ civ ability that provides a +2 adjacency bonus for Theater, Campus, and Industrial Zone districts placed beside rivers. This civ ability activates a Culture Bomb that claims some surrounding tiles for each Harbor built. In Gathering Storm, Grote Rivieren also reduces Dam and Flood Barrier production costs by 50%.

Holland’s Unique Infrastructure and Unit

The Wilhelmina Civilization 6 Netherlands leader can add the unique Polder infrastructure to coastal or lake tiles next to three passable land tiles, where you can move units across. This unique infrastructure generates at least +1 production, +1 food, and +0.5 housing for each tile. However, this unique infrastructure generates +2 production and +4 gold with Replaceable Parts and Civil Engineering unlocked. This infrastructure will generate +4 food yields when placed between two other Polders with the Replaceable Parts technology researched.

De Zeven Provinciën is Holland’s unique naval unit, replacing the Frigate. That unit has higher melee and ranged combat ratings of 50 and 60. It also has a +7 ranged strength bonus when fighting against defensible districts.

Tips for Playing as the Wilhelmina Civilization 6 Netherlands Leader

Science is the best victory type to go for when playing as the Wilhelmina Civilization 6 Netherlands leader. You can increase your science and production output with the Grote Rivieren river adjacency bonuses. Then, you can make your cities even more productive for Space District projects with the Polder infrastructure.

To start with, try to establish more cities along or near rivers when you’re playing as the Civilization 6 Netherlands leader. Having more cities near rivers will enable you to exploit the Grote Rivieren civ ability. Place your Campus and Industrial Zone districts beside the rivers for a +2 adjacency bonus.

Select the Five-Year Plan policy card to boost the Grote Rivieren river adjacency bonuses further. The Five-Year Plan is a policy card that doubles adjacency bonuses for Campus and Industrial Zone districts. Thus, selecting that card will increase the Grote Rivieren adjacency bonus from +2 to +4 for your Campus and Industrial Zone districts.

You should also try to establish most of your cities along coastlines so that you can fully exploit Holland’s Polder infrastructure. The Polder is an infrastructure you can only build on coastal or lake tiles with the Guild’s civic. Research the Guild’s civic ASAP and start adding Polders to as many coastal or lake tiles as you can to maximize production, food, and gold yields for your coastal cities.

Selecting the Public Works card will help you add more Polders to tiles faster. The Public Works card increases unit production for builders by 30% and gives them two extra charges. Thus, you can add two more Polders per Builder with Public Works selected.

Having more coastal cities will also enable you to build Harbor Districts, which are more important for the Wilhelmina Civilization 6 Netherlands leader. Build some Harbor Districts to trigger the Grote Rivieren culture bombs. A culture bomb claims six more tiles for your civilization around the tile it’s triggered from. So, building Harbor Districts will enable you to swallow up more coastal tiles that will increase food and gold yields for your cities.

If you don’t go for a space race victory, culture is a good alternative victory type to pursue when playing as the Wilhelmina Civilization 6 Netherlands leader. Her Radio Oranje bonus makes your foreign trade routes more valuable for increasing cultural yields. Building more Harbor Districts will expand the number of trade routes with which you can exploit the Radio Oranje leader bonus.

To further increase your trade routes’ cultural and scientific yields, unlock Capitalism and select the Market Economy policy. The Market Economy card gives each of your international trade routes a +2 science and +2 culture yield boost. That’s a decent card to select for the more trade-oriented Dutch civilization.

Theater Square districts also benefit from the Grote Rivieren river adjacency bonus. So, don’t forget to place those districts beside rivers. Selecting the Aesthetics policy card will double the Grote Rivieren +2 adjacency bonus to +4 for Theater Squares.

So, the Wilhelmina Civilization 6 Netherlands leader is a solid choice for winning a scientific or cultural victory. The Dutch Grote Rivieren civ ability will enable you to boost culture, production, and science yields for both victory conditions. Wilhelmina’s Radio Oranje leader bonus and Polder infrastructure can also come in handy for boosting cultural output and production in your cities.