A Guide to Playing as the Mansa Musa Civ 6 Leader in Civilization 6

Mansa Musa was the ninth king of the Mali Empire who got very rich during his reign. He is also one of the leaders you can select to play as in the Civilization 6 Gathering Storm game. The Mana Munsa Civ 6 leader thrives in desert terrain and offers players considerable economic advantages to exploit for winning Civilization 6 matches.

Musa’s Sachel Merchants Leader Bonus

Sachel is the bonus for the Mansa Musa Civ 6 leader. That bonus generates +1 gold for trade routes for each flat desert tile in the cities they’re sent from. For example, a trade route will generate +7 more gold if its sending city includes several flat desert titles. The Sachel bonus also gives you an additional trade route for each golden age your Mali civilization enters.

The Songs of the Jeli Civ Ability

Songs of Jeli is the civ ability for the Mali civilization. That ability generates a +1 faith and +1 food yield bonus for each desert hill tile adjacent to a city center. For example, that ability will generate +3 faith and +3 food for a city center placed beside three desert hills. Plus, this civ ability enables you to purchase Commercial Hub buildings with faith.

Songs of Jeli also generate +4 gold for each mine tile improvement within your civilization. However, note that ability has a -1 production penalty for mines. Thus, your mines generate one less production yield when playing as the Mansa Musa Civ 6 leader. This ability also inflicts a -30% general production penalty for buildings and units for the Mali civilization.

The Malian Unique Unit and Infrastructure

The Sugaba is Mali’s unique Commerical Hub district replacement. That unique district has a lower production cost gives you a 20% discount for all gold and faith purchases in a city that includes it. Plus, it has a +2 gold adjacency bonus for Holy Site districts and river tiles beside it.

Mandekalu Cavalry is the unique unit you can recruit when playing as the Mansa Musa Civ 6 leader. It has a melee combat strength of 55 and a movement rating of four. That unit generates gold equal to 100% of the combat strength of a defeated enemy unit. The Mandekalu Cavalry units also protect Traders within four land tiles of them from plundering.

Tips for Playing as the Mansa Musa Civ 6 Leader

Religion is the best victory condition to play for with the Mansa Musa Civ 6 leader. That is the best victory condition to play for because of Mali’s Songs of Jeli civ ability that generates additional faith for city centers next to desert hills. Holy Sites synergize with the Suguba districts to generate additional gold when adjacent to each other. With the 20% discount on faith purchases the Suguba also provides, Mali is a descent religious-orientated civilization.

When starting a Mansa Musa Civ 6 game, make sure you configure advanced settings to ensure the map includes more hills and desert terrain for you to exploit. The map will generate more desert terrain with Hot selected for the Temperate setting. To ensure there are more hills for mining, set the World Age setting to New.

To exploit the Songs of Jeli and Sachel Merchants bonus, you must establish some cities within, or alongside, desert terrain. Make sure you place your cities beside dessert hill tiles to ensure they generate more faith and food yields. Those additional faith yields bonuses will enable you to establish a pantheon and religion sooner rather than later. Select the Desert Folklore pantheon that will generate +1 faith yields for desert tiles adjacent to your Holy Site districts. Stuffing your Holy Sites within deserts will then boost your civilization’s faith output all the more for purchasing religious units.

Mining can give your economy a significant boost when playing as the Mansa Musa Civ 6 leader. So, prioritize mining hills within your civilization. Purchase more Builder units with gold, with which to mine more and more hills that will increase gold per turn.

Trade must also be at the heart of your strategy when playing as the Mansa Musa Civ 6 leader. Make sure you build plenty of Suguba (or Harbor) districts with which to increase your trade routes. Then, send your trade routes from cities with the most desert tiles in your civilization.

Select policy cards that will make your Mali trade routes even more lucrative. For example, the Triangular Trade is a good one for players seeking religious victories, as that gives each of your trade routes a +4 gold and +1 faith yield trade boost. Make sure you select the Ecommerce policy card in the late game to give your trade routes a significant +5 gold and +2 production boost.

If you’re not inclined to play for religious domination, the cultural victory path is a viable alternative to go for when playing as the Mansa Musa Civ 6 leader. You can purchase Naturalist units and patronage more cultural great persons with your higher faith output. Alternatively, pump your Mali economy into purchasing Archaeologist units, Monuments, Theater Square buildings, and great persons (with patronage) with gold.

So, the economy of Mali is its greatest strength in Civilization 6. Mali enables you to establish a civilization with an extremely strong economy (in gold and faith) to secure variable victory conditions. Although Mali’s production penalties are a disadvantage in the early game, you can overcome them by establishing a rich civilization for purchasing more and more units and buildings. Thus, your economy is the key to victory when playing as the Mansa Musa Civ 6 leader.