A Guide to Playing as the Kupe Civ 6 Leader in Civilization 6

According to Māori oral history and folklore, Kupe was an explorer and navigator who discovered modern-day New Zealand. He is also one of the leaders you can select to play as in the Civilization 6 Gathering Storm expansion. Kupe is one of the most unique leaders in Civilization 6 because he’s the only one who starts on the ocean rather than land. He is a leader who excels in exploration and thrives on unimproved landscape features.

The Kupe’s Voyage Leader Bonus

The Kupe’s Voyage leader bonus might at first seem more like a bit of a handicap rather than a blessing because it starts you from ocean tiles. However, it also generates +2 science and +2 culture per turn before you settle your first city. Plus, the first city you settle receives a free Builder unit and additional +1 population when established.

Kupe’s Voyage also has one more permanent effect. The palace in your capital will receive a +3 housing and +1 amenity boost thanks to Kupe’s Voyage. That effect primarily stimulates faster population growth in your capital.

The Māori Mana Civ Ability

The Mana civ ability for the Māori Kupe Civ 6 leader has variable effects, but most notably enables you to navigate ocean tiles from the outset, with the Sailing and Shipbuilding techs also researched. All unimproved rainforests and woods grant +1 production, which increases to +2 and +3 production with the Mercantilism and Conservation civics unlocked. Fishing Boats generate +1 food and also activate culture bombs (claim surrounding tiles) when you add them to tiles. Plus, the Mana civ ability gives your embarked units a +5 combat strength and +2 movement bonus.

However, Mana is also one of the few civ abilities in the game that comes with a negative effect. You can’t earn any great writers because of the Mana civ ability. That is offset by the tourism the Māori Marae building can generate.

Kupe’s Unique Infrastructure and Units

Marae is a unique building for the Māori that replaces the Theater Square district. That is a building that generates +1 culture and +1 faith for each passable feature in a city, such as woods, rainforest, marsh, reef, and geothermal fissure. It also generates tourism for each tile that includes a passable feature when you’ve researched Flight.

Māori’s unique unit is the Toa, which replaces the Swordsman. That unit has a melee attack rating of 38 and a per-turn movement of two. The unique thing about this unit is that it has one builder charge with which it can build the Pā defensive tile improvement and clear terrain. Furthermore, you don’t need any iron to recruit the Toa.

Adding the Pā to tiles increases the defensive strength of units that occupy them. The Pā gives a unit placed on a +4 defensive strength bonus. Māori units placed on a Pā heal even when they’ve moved or been attacked on a turn.

Tips for Playing as the Māori Kupe Civ 6 Leader

The Kupe Civ 6 leader is best for securing cultural victories, irrespective of the fact that you can’t attract any great writers to the Māori civilization. His unique Marae building makes up for that because it enables you to turn many of the passable natural features in your civilization into tourist attractions. Plus, the Marae can significantly boost your Māori civilization’s culture and faith output when you build many of them.

Of course, you start in the ocean when playing as the Kupe Civ 6 leader, which might seem like a slight disadvantage. However, being able to move across ocean tiles from the outset with the Mana civ ability is a big exploration advantage. When you’ve found land and established a few cities, make the most of it by setting aside a few units to explore the oceans and find unclaimed territory. That will also enable you to find new city-states faster, in which to stuff your envoys.

Another good thing about the Mana civ ability is that it gives you an easy way to trigger culture bombs with Fishing Boats. The best way to exploit that effect is to settle more coastal cities. Cities along the coast will include more sea resources for you to add Fishing Boats to. Then, make sure you add Fishing Boats to bonus resource tiles sooner rather than later so that you can absorb more tiles with them. Expanding sea and coastal tiles by culture bombing their resources will increase your cities’ gold and food yields for an economic and population boost. To further enhance your sea tiles’ yields, build Harbor districts and buildings in your coastal cities.

You should build many Marae buildings in Theater Square districts across your Māori civilization to secure a cultural victory. Make sure you preserve woods, rainforests, and marshes within your civilization to fully exploit Marae’s faith, culture, and tourism generation effects on passable tiles. Do not add lumber mills to woods or rainforests as you might usually, because they’ll generate additional production yields, culture, faith, and tourism without such tile improvements.

To further boost your culture and faith yields generated from Marae, plant more trees in your cities with Builders. Unlock the Conservation civic, and then add more woods to the grassland, plains, and tundra tiles within your civilization. Then, your Marae buildings will generate even more culture and faith. Plus, you’ll sow the seeds for future forest tourist attractions in your Māori civilization.

Building Maraes will certainly generate higher faith output for your civilization, which can also come in handy for a culture victory. I recommend building the Grand Master’s Chapel in your Plaza district so you can also purchase military units with faith. However, the best way to invest your faith in a cultural victory is to recruit Naturalists for establishing National Parks and patronage more artists and musicians.

The higher faith output you can obtain with Maraes also makes the Kupe Civ 6 leader a stronger one for securing a religion victory. Building many Holy Sites and Maraes can generate a considerable amount of faith. Then, you can invest your higher faith output in more religious units, such as Missionaries, Apostles, Inquisitors, and Gurus. You can also send such units to other civilizations across oceans for religion spreading from the outset when playing as the Kupe Civ 6 leader.

So, it’s certainly worth playing as the Māori Kupe Civ 6 leader if you’re planning on winning a game with cultural or religious dominance. The potency of the Maraes building for generating significant culture and faith can trigger a snowball effect for players seeking religious or cultural victories. His early game ocean exploration and culture bombing advantages can also be valuable for civilization expansion, enabling Māori players to extend territory faster than other civilizations.