The Best Civ 6 Governments For Different Civilization 6 Victory Conditions

Civilization 6 includes numerous governments players can select across three tiers (four in Gathering Storm). A government is essentially the command structure of your civilization, offering a unique effect and legacy bonus. They also provide you with economic, wildcard, military, and diplomatic card slots for selecting policies. What the best Civ 6 governments are primarily depends on the victory condition you are seeking in Civilization 6.

What Are the Civilization 6 Government Types?

There are nine Civ 6 governments to choose from in the vanilla Civilization 6 game. However, that number increases to 12 with the additional fourth-tier governments in the Gathering Storm expansion. You can select new, higher-tier governments throughout a Civilization 6 game by researching the required civics for them. These are the different Civ 6 government types to choose from:

• Oligarchy (tier 1, Political Philosophy civic)
• Classical Republic (tier 1, Political Philosophy)
• Autocracy (tier 1, Political Philosophy)
• Merchant Republic (tier 2, Exploration)
• Monarchy (tier 2, Divine Right)
• Theocracy (tier 2, Reformed Church)
• Communism (tier 3, Class Struggle)
• Democracy (tier 3, Suffrage)
• Fascism (tier 3, Totalitarianism)
• Digital Democracy (tier 4, Distributed Sovereignty)
• Synthetic Technocracy (tier 4, Optimization Imperative)
• Corporate Liberalism (tier 4, Venture Politics)

The Change Government screen in Civilization 6 provides details for all the different effects and legacy bonuses that those Civ 6 governments have. Higher-tier governments also provide players with more policy card slots and generate higher influence points (for envoys) per turn than lower-tier alternatives. So, the best governments to select in that respect are usually higher-tier ones, but you can only select the lower-tier ones until you unlock the higher ones. These are the best Civ 6 governments for specific victory conditions.

Science: Communism

Communism is the best government for securing scientific victories because of the productivity and scientific boost it gives to your civilization. In the vanilla Civilization 6 game, Communism gives all your cities a 15% production boost. However, that production boost in the Rise and Fall and Gathering Storm expansions amounts to 0.6 per citizen in a city. Those effects are ideal for boosting space race project production.

Communism is even better for science victories in Gathering Storm. In the Gathering Storm DLC, Communism gives your civilization a 10% science output boost. So, selecting the Communism Civ 6 government in Gathering Storm will enable you to build space projects and unlock technologies faster for a scientific victory.

Domination: Oligarchy and Fascism

If you’re pursuing the Domination Victory path, Fascism is the best government you can select for that objective later in a game. Firstly, because it gives you four military card policy card slots, which is the most of any government. However, the best thing about Fascism from a military perspective is that it gives all your units a +4 combat strength bonus, which is invaluable for war. Fascism’s 20% unit production effect will also enable you to roll out more military units faster.

Oligarchy is the best tier-1 Fascism alternative to select during the early game for waging wars. That government will give your melee units a +4 combat strength bonus and 20% experience. Its legacy bonus, which provides +1%experience for units every five turns, will also boost your military.

Diplomatic: Monarchy and Democracy

Democracy is the best government to select for the Gathering Storm Diplomatic Victory condition mainly because of the alliance-boosting effects it offers in GS. Establishing alliances accumulates more diplomatic favor for your civilization. Selecting Democracy will provide a +4 production and +4 yield for your trade routes sent to allied cities. Plus, this Civ 6 government generates .25 alliance points per turn.

Monarchy is the best tier-2 Civ 6 government option to select for securing a Diplomatic Victory before unlocking Democracy. In Gathering Storm, selecting the Monarchy government enables you to increase diplomatic favor by building Renaissance Walls. Monarchy also has a legacy bonus that generates bonus influence points for earning more envoys, with which you can establish city-state suzerains that increase diplomatic favor.

Religion: Theocracy

The Theocracy Civ 6 government offers the best religion-oriented effects in the game. It gives your units a +5 religious strength bonus, which is invaluable for theological combat. Theocracy also enables you to buy land combat units with faith and provides a 15% discount on faith purchases in the vanilla Civ 6 game. In Rise and Fall, Theocracy increases faith output by 0.5 per citizen for cities that include governors.

The third and fourth-tier Civ 6 government effects offer little for players pursuing a Religious Victory. Some players may prefer to stick with Theocracy throughout a game after selecting that government. However, sticking with Theocracy for a Religious Victory rather than upgrading to a higher-tier government will restrict your policy card slots.

Culture: Classical Republic and Democracy

Democracy is the best Civ 6 government for securing cultural victories in the vanilla Civilization 6 game. The 50% gold discount for great person patronage effect Democracy gives you is valuable for attracting more artists, authors, and musicians to your civilization. Plus, Democracy gives your civilization a 30% bonus yield for district projects, which is good for Theater Square Festivals.

However, the Democracy effects in Gathering Storm are very different from those in the vanilla Civilization 6 game. If you select Democracy in Gathering Storm, try establishing a cultural alliance. Then, you can exploit the alliance effects GS Democracy offers by establishing more trade routes with your cultural ally that will boost trade, food, and cultural yields.

Classical Republic is the best cultural government choice in the early game. That government’s 15% great person points bonus will enable you to attract more cultural great people to your civilization, which gives you a good head start in the tourist industry. It also has a longer-lasting legacy bonus that gives your great person points generation a +1% boost every 15 turns.

Selecting the best Civ 6 governments for your targeted victory condition, as recommended above, will enhance your victory chances in Civilization 6 games. Those governments have some of the best effects for the five victory conditions. Tier four governments in Gathering Storm generally aren’t the best, primarily because of the negative scientific, tourism, and combat strength trade-off effects they have. However, the two additional policy cards they offer do make them more flexible.