Ethiopia Civilization 6 guide

Ethiopia is a strong religious Civilization. I will explain how to win a game of Civilization 6 as Ethiopia. What are the civ's strengths, strategies and win conditions. This guide is focused on the Gathering Storm expansion (with Ethiopian pack). 

Ethiopia civ 6

 

How to win Civ6 as Ethiopia?

To win Civilization VI as Ethiopia you must focus on religion, which can be later converted into culture through their ability to purchase Archeological Museums and Archeologists with faith. Most suitable types of victories are Cultural and Religious. Deity players: Early game improve your resource tiles to get faith (to get a prophet) and use mountains to defend yourself (+4 strength), build a Holy Site as soon as possible.

 

 Ethiopia Civilization VI info

Ethiopia enjoys huge religious bonuses, which can be conveniently converted into culture

 

Civilization Ability: Aksumite Legacy

Provides their cities with extra faith civ 6 Faith from resources, increases the faith civ 6 Faith yield of their international TradeRoute6 Trade Routes based on resources in the origin city, and allows them to purchase Archaeological Museums and Archeologists with faith civ 6 Faith.

 

Menelik II's Leader Ability: Council of Ministers

Menelik II

"I have no intention of being an indifferent looker-on if the distant Powers have the idea of dividing up Africa, for Ethiopia has been for more than fourteen centuries an island of Christians in the middle of a the sea of pagans"

Ethiopian cities founded on Hills receive Civ6Science Science and culture civ 6 Culture equal to 15% of their faith civ 6 Faith output. +4 strength civ 6 Combat Strength for all units when fighting on Hills.

Unique tile improvement: Rock-Hewn Church

A unique tile improvement of the Ethiopian Civilization in Civilization VI. It must be built on Hills or Volcanic Soil tiles.

  • Effects:
    • +1 faith civ 6 Faith.
    • +1 faith civ 6 Faith for every adjacent Mountain and Hills tile.
    • Provides tourism civ 6 Tourism after researching Flight.
    • +1 Appeal.
    • Can only be pillaged (never destroyed) by natural disasters.
  • Restrictions:
    • Cannot be adjacent to another Rock-Hewn Church.
  •  

Research

Base Cost

Maintenance

Pillage Yield

Location requirements

Drama and Poetry (Civ6)

Drama and Poetry

1 builder charge

No maintenance

25 Civ6 gold

Must be build on Hills or Volcanic Soil tiles 

Unique Unit: Oromo Cavalry

Oromo Cavalry

Ethiopian unique light cavalry unit. It replaces the Courser. It is slightly stronger (46 vs 44 strength), doesn't suffer movement penalty in hills and ignores enemy Zone of Control.

Research

Cost

Maintenance

Upgrades to

Resources needed

Strength

Moves

Castles (Civ6)

Castles

200 Production or 400 faith civ 6 or 800 Civ6 gold

3Civ6 gold

Cavalry (130 Civ6 gold cost) 

20 horses civ 6Horses

46 Civ6StrengthIcon

5Civ6Movement

Additional information


  • Ignores enemy zone of control
  • No Civ6MovementMovement penalty in hills
  • Higher Civ6StrengthIcon Combat Strength (46 vs Courser's 44)
  • Has better sight

Strategy

 

Thanks to its superior sight and mobility the Oromo Cavalry should be used to anticipate attacks and respond to them quickly, even if they occur in the farthest cities.

Start Bias

No start bias.

Types of victories

Ethiopia is all about religion and culture, but other victory types are posible.

Domination victory:

Domination victory

Domination is not the most suitable path for Ethiopia, but it is possible. Menelik's leader ability grants +4 strength when fighting on Hills and its unique unit (the Oromo Cavalry) doesn't receive a penalty for movement in hills. This means you should try to always fight on hills when possible, having the higher ground is finally a mechanic we have in Civilization VI.

  • Placing Encampment districts will grant your units on it an additional +4 strength, making it very efficient when it comes to defending your territory.
  • Inner cities should be focused in science. Place your Campuses where they give a higher bonus (adjacent to Mountains or Geothermal Fissures). Science is very important while trying to achieve a domination victory, Ethiopia receives bonus science (15% of your religious output) if you founded your city on a hill.
  • Commercial Hubs are great to fund your military, but there are other ways too, such as pillaging with your Oromo Cavalry or trading with other civs.
  • Faith is still necessary, there is no other way around. As Ethiopia you must build Holy Sites in order to receive bonuses in science and culture.
  • Inner cities make sure of having Holy Site + Campus (adjacent).
  • Outer cities make sure of having Encampment + Commercial hubs.

 

Science victory:

Science victory civ 6

Science victory is not the best path for Ethiopia, but the civilization does have a significant bonus in this regard.

  • Again, the weird thing about Ethiopia is that you still have to build Holy Sites when trying to get a science victory. You will receive 15% of your faith as bonus science, which is huge in itself.
  • Late game have some cities with good production in order to help your Space Port, this is kinda difficult to do for Ethiopia since you will rarely have an Industrial district and many of your tile improvements will be built for faith (Hewn Church).
  • If you go to war, do it in the Medieval Era in order to make good use of your unique unit. Hopefully you have a science advantage at this point (unlikely while playing on deity), be efficient with your units, you don't want to spend too much production on them.

 

Culture Victory:

Culture vicotry Civ 6

Culture victory is the best for Ethiopia. Basically religion is converted into culture once you have access to archeologists and rock bands.

  • An excellent district array would be Holy Site+Theater Square+Campus. Focus on Theater Square. Replace Campus with Encampment or Industrial zone as you see fit.
  • You are achieving a Culture Victory through religion. Late game spend your religion buying archeologists, rock bands and naturalists.
  • Make allies, trade with them and try to make a Cultural alliance with another Civilization that has high population numbers but no interest in a culture victory. International trade routes have additional faith output.

 

Religious Victory:

Religious Victory

Ethiopia has a huge advantage when is trying to achieve a religious victory. Big bonuses and incentives towards faith output make it so religion is the natural path for Ethiopia.

  • Rush Drama and Poetry in order to be able to build hewn Churches.
  • Improve all resources, don't get tempted to harvest them (advanced players tend to do this).
  • Menelik's leader ability makes it so all units receive +4 strength when fighting in mountains, this includes religious units.
  • Make allies and trade routes with them in order to use the additional faith output from trade routes. Try and get a religious alliance.

 

Diplomatic Victory:

Diplomatic victory Civilization vi

Diplomatic victory is an acceptable path for Ethiopia, making allies and trading is natural for this civilization. Nevertheless diplomacy requires some level of productivity, which is a department Ethiopia is not good at, since you are mostly building Holy sites and campuses as districts.

  • Build some Industrial zones in cities where you intend to build wonders.
  • The extra productivity should be used to win over the Statue of Liberty (awards 4 points toward diplomatic victory).
  • If you see war is inevitable (a neighboring Civilization has Agendas that make them don't like you) go as soon as possible in order to not get punished with Grievances.
  • Build some Army for deterrence.

 

Best Secret Society for Ethiopia: The Voidsingers

The VoidSingers

The Voidsingers is hands down the best Secret Society choice for Ethiopia. This applies when any type of victory is being pursued except Domination, in which case the Sanguine Pact is more convenient.

 

The Voidsingers Governor promotions

Promotion title

Unlocked by

Effect

Initiation Discover a tribal village (70% chance) Allows you to construct the Old God Obelisk building, which replaces the Monument and grants +4 Faith and 1 slot for Great Works (Unlike Monument)
Ritual

Reach the Medieval Era

Cities earn Civ6 Gold Gold,Civ6 Culture Culture and Civ6 Science Science per turn equal to 20% of their Civ6 Faith Faith per turn rate.

Indoctrination

Reach the Industrial Era

Unlocks the Cultist unit. This unit is purchased withCiv6Faith Faith and uses charges to reduce Loyalty in foreign cities and generate Relic6 Relics of the Void.

Master Plan

Reach the Atomic Era

Unlocks Dark Summoning, a city project that provides lots of Civ6FaithFaith while active, and upon completion, raises the amount of Loyalty damage done by Cultists.

 

As you can see The VoidSinger governor promotions are all about Faith and being able to use it effectively to achieve other objectives such as increasing Gold, Culture and Science output.

The Cultist

Portrait

The Cultist is the exclusive unit to the Voidsingers. It can move into foreign lands without declaring war, its ability is causing adjacent foreign cities to lose loyalty and when its killed it grants a Relic of the Void. The aforementioned is great when playing Ethiopia, because it gives you greater access to obtaining foreign cities without waging war.

In depth: Menelik II's Leader Ability: Council of ministers

Menelik Civ 6

Council of Ministers:

Ethiopian cities founded on Hills receive Civ6Science Science and culture civ 6 Culture equal to 15% of their faith civ 6 Faith output. +4 strength civ 6 Combat Strength for all units when fighting on Hills.

Council of Ministers makes it so if you found a city not on a hill, then either you are trolling or have a very good reason to do so. The bonus is way too good not to use it, for instance a city founded on a hill with an output of 20 Faith will receive 3 Civ6Science Science and 3 culture civ 6 Culture, which is more than the output of a library or an amphitheater respectively.

Ethiopia is not particularly good at producing units (or producing anything in general), but is very good at using the units efficiently for defense. The  +4 strength civ 6 Combat Strength bonus while fighting on hills means your cities (which should be founded on hills), will be easy to defend with much fewer units than your opponent. The strength bonus applies to all units, so make use of it with your religious units too.

Point your civic development towards Theology in order to get the Scripture (+100% Holy Site adjacency bonus) policy card. Early game you should try and get the following inspiration boosts:

  • Craftsmanship - Improve three tiles
  • Foreign Trade - Discover another continent.
  • State Workforce - Build any district.
  • Early Empire - Reach a combined total of 6 population in your empire.
  • Drama and Poetry - Build a Wonder.

Political Philosophy is important too, you want to get it around the time you start conquering cities (if you go this path as Ethiopia) with your Oromo Cavalry. Oligarchy will make it so your units have +4 strength, this will mean your Oromo Cavalrys will hit with 50 strength (54 on hills), which will give you an edge over other Civilizations. Depending on the difficult level you're playing there is going to be a window of time where your opponents won't have access to Oligarchy, and therefore will be weaker.

In depth: Oromo Cavalry strategy

Oromo Cavalry

Oromo Cavalry is a light Cavalry Unit that is great for the defense of your empire. Having better sight you can anticipate enemy movements and prepare for war effectively. Receiving no movement penalty makes it so this cavalry will reach the farthest cities of your empire in no time.

The unique Ethiopian unit is great on the offense too. The movement and sight makes it great for pillaging, although its strength is only slightly better than regular Coursers, which makes it so you have to use it in a smart way. Use the extra sight to avoid anti-cavalry. Accompany with Crossbowmen to cover weaknesses.

 

  • Rush: To get Oromo Cavalrys going ASAP point your research (and Eurekas) into the Castles tech. To boost it you need a government with 6 Policy slots.
  • Use: As said before you have to boost your Oromo Cavalrys with Oligarchy and Oligarchy legacy wildcard. If the opponent has walls build a (only one) Battery Ram to support your Oromo Cavalrys. Just attack, conquer everything while the Medieval Era lasts (if you go the domination route). Try and make a war declaration that doesn't add too much grievance. Combine with Archers, unless your intention is to pillage only, Oromo Cavalrys are not that great if they go alone.
  • Upgrade: Just upgrade as soon as Cavalry is available, the strength difference (62 vs 46) is way too high.

In depth: Rock-Hewn Church

Rock Hewn Church: +1 Faith, +1 additional faith for every adjacent Mountain and Hills tile. Provides Tourism after researching Flight equivalent to the Faith output. +1 Appeal to adjacent tiles. Can only be pillaged (never destroyed) by natural disasters. Can only be built on Hills and Volcanic soil not adjacent to another Rock Hewn Church.

For Ethiopia the Rock Hewn Church is a great tile improvement. Best case scenario it gives +7 faith (and later tourism) to a tile, which will also add 1 science and culture/turn to a city built on a hill (due to Council of Ministers). This is a very significant amount of yields. Most of the time you won't be able to get this much out of it but expect to be able to reliably get 3-5 faith yield tiles out of it most of the time. The +1 appeal can also be utilized later in the game to build national parks and seaside resorts so these improvements can actually end up increasing the tourism output of Ethiopia quite a bit.

In depth: Aksumite Legacy 

Provides their cities with extra faith civ 6 Faith from resources, increases the faith civ 6 Faith yield of their international TradeRoute6 Trade Routes based on resources in the origin city, and allows them to purchase Archaeological Museums and Archeologists with faith civ 6 Faith.

  • Provide their cities with extra Faith with resources: This bonus and the need for prophets implies that early game you must make a builder and improve as many resources as you can. This will make it so you will get a prophet on time, even on deity difficulty.
  • Increases the faith civ 6 Faith yield of their international TradeRoute6 Trade Routes: Don't play alone, make friends and get a religious alliance with them. Remember that thanks to the Council of Ministers every +20 Faith is +3 Science and Culture too.
  • Ability to purchase Archaeological Museums and Archeologists with faith civ 6 Faith: This bonus is great while going for a Cultural victory. If you have a decent amount of Faith (which you should) there won't be any civilization able to compete with you.

 

Holy Sites

I recommend to ignore religion in my how to win on deity guide, but if you're playing as Ethiopia you have to do just the opposite. Religion is paramount, almost every single city should have a Holy Site. 

The difficulty with building Holy Sites is that you're using the space of a more useful district and therefore the city has to grow to fit more districts. Choose pantheons that help in this respect.

Early game on the higher difficulties will be painful as other civilizations will wage war and your production has to be spent in religion instead of units. Make good use of mountains to make your units efficient in combat.

 

Campuses

Science is important no matter what type of victory you are trying to achieve. To get a Oromo Cavalry in time you need a lot of science and therefore should have at the very least 1 good Campus.

Use the Mountains and Geothermal fissures in your favor. If you're unlucky enough to not get Mountains nearby (either occupied by a city state or other civs) then use the huge Government Plaza bonus. Either way don't be late at building Campuses.

 

Harbors and Commercial Hubs

 

Harbor and Commercial Hubs are not so important for Ethiopia since you are not really spending a lot of gold. You should have a small/efficient army and you will mostly be buying stuff with faith

If given the option (city has coast tiles) build a Harbor, this is much better as it gives production and food too. Also the Great Admiral points are impactful as Admirals have powerful actions in the game.

How to counter Ethiopia

Ethiopia is just a strong Civilization, harder to play against than other AIs. There are good way to go about it:

  • Pillage Rock-Hewn Churches and Holy Sites: Pillaging their Faith output renders Ethiopian cities useless.
  • Make a cultural alliance with another civ: Ethiopia tends to go for a cultural victory, to counter this (if necessary) just make a cultural alliance with the second strongest cultural civilization.
  • Anti cavalry units in the Medieval Era: You might be smart enough to use Oromo Cavalry's additional sight and movement in an efficient way (avoiding anti-cavalry), the AI is not so good at it, use this to your advantage.