As one of the victory types existing in Civilization 6, Cultural Victories can be quite tricky for some players to achieve due to the relatively strict conditions to make it happen. It is necessary to have a large amount of culture and tourism to acquire the elusive victory type.
However, once a player sets a course and successfully makes a foundation for a Culture Victory, they can be quite unstoppable since it can happen spontaneously and catch other civilizations off guard, including in multiplayer games against human players.
Updated on September 24, 2024, by Matt Weideman: Many players have returned to Civilization 6 in anticipation of its sequel’s release date in February 2025. The Culture Victory is much less straightforward than other Victory types, with a diverse array of strategies ranging from building Wonders to establishing National Parks or recruiting Great People of all types. As such, this list was updated to include a few additional leaders who can easily win a CultureVictory.
13
Greece – Gorgo
Gain Culture By Defeating Enemies
- Able to build Acropolis, a replacement for Theater Square with lower production cost and adjacent bonuses from districts
- Gains an additional Wildcard policy slot for all governments
- Killing a unit grants 50 percent of its Combat Strength as Culture for Gorgo
Greece is a cultural powerhouse in Civilization 6. Their unique district, the Acropolis, gives them an early head start on Culture production each turn, and the fact that they get an extra Wildcard policy for all governments, including Chiefdoms, means that they can gain Great People faster or use other Wildcard policies to adapt to their current needs.
Gorgo also gains Culture based on the Combat Strength of enemies slain by her units, which means that aggressive players can snowball their military victories into a cultural renaissance. This makes her a frightening adversary, especially if the Gorgo player is gunning for either a Domination or Culture Victory.
12
America – Bull Moose Teddy
Gain Extra Culture From Woods And Wonders
- Diplomatic Policy Card slots are replaced with Wildcard Policy slots. Gain +1 Diplomatic Favor for each active Wildcard policy
- Teddy: Gain +2 Culture for Tiles with Breathtaking Appeals next to Wonders and Woods
Teddy Roosevelt is known for creating National Parks; his play style in Civilization 6 focuses on tiles with natural beauty and appeal. The Bull Moose persona builds on this emphasis to lead players to pursue Science or Culture naturally. His Breathtaking Appeal tiles gain +2 Science for being adjacent to Natural Wonders or Mountains and +2 Culture for being adjacent to Woods or Wonders.
Settling near Natural Wonders and then building man-made Wonders can catapult America players toward a Cultural Victory very quickly. As long as there isn’t another Wonder-focused civilization competing against him, Teddy can easily become the dominant culture in his matches.
11
Sweden – Kristina
Great Works Are Automatically Themed When Full
- +50 Diplomatic Favor when a Great Person is recruited
- Having Sweden in a game creates 3 unique Competitions in the Industrial Era
- Kristina’s ability grants a Theming Bonus if the Building’s Great Work slots are filled
Typically, players have to trade Great Works in Civ 6 to have the added culture and tourism from the building’s Theming Bonus. For Kristina, however, this bonus just comes whenever the building is full of Great Works. This means that Kristina players can focus on recruiting Great People without worrying about how to maximize their Great Works.
This bonus is made even better by Sweden’s unique building: the Queen’s Bibliotheque. This building can hold 6 Great Works in it, which is more than any other building in the game. It also generates points towards recruiting a Great Musician, Great Writer, and Great Artist. Once filled, this provides an enormous amount of culture and tourism. Players who like to hoard Great Works in order to win a Culture Victory should consider playing as Kristina.
10
Kongo – Nzinga Mbande
Gain Great Artists And Musicians Rapidly
- Gain +4 Gold, +1 Faith, +2 Food and Production for each Relics, Artifacts, and Sculptures in a city.
- Great Artists, Musicians, and Merchants gain 50% more points from all sources.
- Cities on the same continent as Capital gain 10% more yields, while on another continent gain 15 percent less yields (as Nzinga Mbande)
Amassing a large number of Great Artists and Great Musicians is important for any civilization that aspires to get a Culture Victory over its competitors, as those Great People can get the player various Great Works of Art and Music, which generates both Tourism and Culture. Thanks to its unique civilization ability, Kongo will be able to gain these Great People at a faster rate than their competitors, putting them at an advantage in gaining a Culture Victory.
Moreover, they are able to quickly build up their cities by having Relics, Artifacts, and Sculptures, as those Great Works will boost the cities by granting Gold, Faith, Food, and Production each. When coupled with Nzinga Mbande’s unique ability to boost yields for every city in the same continent as the civilization’s capital, Kongo will become a cultural powerhouse capable of single-handedly winning the game on their own, should their competitor fail to notice Kongo’s attempt to build up their Culture base.
9
Ethiopia – Menelik II
Use Faith Generation To Gain Cultural Advantage
- Cities founded on Hills gain Science and Culture equal to 15% of their Faith output
- Each improved resource tile in a city grant +1 Faith
- International Trade Routes grant +0.5 Faith for each resource in the origin city
- Able to build the unique infrastructure Rock-Hewn Church, which grants Tourism from its Faith output after researching Flight.
Faith can be seen as one of the crucial resources needed for a civilization to obtain a Culture Victory due to its ability to gain several important Culture Victory landmarks, such as gaining early Religion Tourism and amassing a large amount of Faith for purchasing Rock Bands down the line. These Rock Bands will be crucial enough to gain Tourism in other civilizations that might resist the passive Tourism gain of Ethiopia.
Moreover, its unique infrastructure, the Rock-Hewn Church, has the potential to gain a large amount of Tourism as Ethiopia reaches the latter stages of the game by researching the strong and powerful technology, Flight. With these advantages, Ethiopia can be seen as a potential threat in a game if the game goes peacefully, as they are able to convert peacetime into a huge advantage via their innate bonuses to gain a Culture Victory over their competitors.
8
Maori – Kupe
An Unstoppable Culture Juggernaut With Passive Tourism Gain
- Start with Sailing and Shipbuilding unlocked, but also start in the middle of the ocean
- Unimproved woods and rainforest production is increased by 1
- Building a fishing boat triggers a culture bomb
- Cannot harvest resources
- Able to build Marae, a unique building in Theater Square replacing Amphitheater which grants culture and faith for all the city’s passable tiles, and grants tourism for all tiles with a feature upon researching Flight
For both veteran and new players of Civilization 6, playing as Maori can be quite tricky since its mechanics are relatively unique compared to other civilizations. For instance, Maori start in the middle of the ocean, making luck a necessary element as they will need to spend a few turns without a city and try to find an island.
Other than those limitations, players will discover that playing as Maori is hugely beneficial for a Culture Victory focus. By settling on lands with many feature tiles, they will be able to build a Marae in Theater Square to quickly gain Culture and Tourism.
7
Khmer – Jayavarman VII
Flexible Civilization Capable Of Having Religious Tourism
- Cities with Aqueduct receive bonus amenity and faith for every population
- Able to build Prasat on a Holy Site, which grants 0.5 culture for every population and provides 10 tourism if the city has 10 or more population, and 20 tourism for more than 20 population
Khmer is one of the civilizations in the game that can take on multiple victory types without any problems, including Religion Victory, provided that the player builds a solid foundation by settling their cities on the river to take advantage of their bonus with Aqueducts and Prasat. Moreover, settling on the river would provide Khmer with a fast-growing city.
With these huge cities, they will also be able to acquire easy tourism points as a city with Prasat will provide 10 tourism if the city has 10 or more population and 20 tourism for a city with more than 20 population. Since the huge cities guarantee a productive city as well, Khmer players can take advantage of acquiring a quick Culture Victory.
6
Indonesia – Gitarja
Massive Kampungs In Coastal Cities For Numerous Tourism
- Coastal and Lake tiles provide a 0.5 adjacency bonus
- Settling a city adjacent to a coast or lake grants 1 faith per turn
- Able to build tile improvement Kampung, which provides tourism based on food gain after researching Flight
Although Indonesia’s preference to play on archipelago or continental maps might make it difficult for random, chaotic multiplayer game sessions, any veteran players who are well-versed in covering their weaknesses and taking advantage of a civilization’s strength can take on Indonesia’s massive Kampung spam strategy to gain a surprise Culture Victory.
A player can simply amass numerous Kampung before researching the Flight technology to catch other civilizations off-guard, especially in multiplayer games. Once they realize what is happening, it will already be too late as Indonesia’s player will already be amassing a large amount of tourism.
5
Germany – Ludwig II
Gain Culture From Contructing Wonders
- German cities can build one more District than their Population would normally allow
- Wonders gain +2 culture per adjacent District, even if they aren’t completed
- All culture Adjacency bonuses also provide tourism after researching Castles
Ludwig II was known for building elaborate castles that still draw huge crowds of tourists every year. Civiliization 6 uses this as the main mechanic around which Ludwig can secure a Culture Victory. Ludwig II players gain culture in Districts adjacent to Wonders, even if the Wonder itself is unfinished. With Germany’s bonus of having an extra District per city than normal, this added culture can stack up very quickly.
This also works well in tandem with Germany’s specialty District, the Hansa, which is a cheaper and more powerful version of the Industrial Zone. Having additional Production per turn helps Ludwig II finish Wonders, which can turn the tide of a Culture Victory in the player’s favor. The added tourism from multiple Wonders in addition to the Tourism that each one generates makes Ludwig II a great contender for players striving for a Culture Victory.
4
Russia – Tsar Peter
Easily Gain Great People With Lavra For Great Works
- Founded cities start with five additional tiles
- Tundra tiles provide additional faith and production
- Able to build Lavra instead of Holy Site, which grants extra points in acquiring cultural Great People if there is a building in the district
Russia is well-known to be one of the most powerful civilizations in the game as they can take on multiple victory types easily, including Science Victory, while other players will need to scout and analyze what kind of victory they are going for to prevent them from winning. Coupled with Lavra’s unique ability to gain extra points to acquire cultural Great People (Great Writers, Great Artists, Great Musicians), Russia can easily gain a Culture Victory.
Moreover, the extra ability that they have at converting tundra tiles into beneficial ones makes Russia one of the most productive civilizations in the game, making them more potent in gaining Culture Victory.
3
Canada – Wilfrid Laurier
Build Up Culture Passively Without Worries Of Getting Attacked
- Cannot declare surprise wars or attack city-states
- Other civilizations cannot declare surprise war against Canada
- For every 100 tourism earned, gain Diplomatic Favor
- Able to build Ice Hockey Rink improvement to gain culture for each adjacent Tundra and Snow tiles
Players who are aiming for a Culture Victory will commonly prefer peace rather than going all-out in war, as the production and extra gold effort will be needlessly diverted into units and military buildings. Canada becomes a perfect civilization to relax and gain Culture Victory as their unique characteristic prevent them from getting into a Surprise War with other opportunistic, warmongering civilizations.
Moreover, their tourism acquisition also enables them to gain passive Diplomatic Favors to gain favorable trade and pass favorable World Congress resolutions. Their unique Ice Hockey Rink is the icing as it allows them to gain a massive amount of culture from the unfavorable Tundra And Snow tiles.
2
France – Eleanor of Aquitane
Rush Wonders To Outmatch Other Civilizations Culture Gain
- Able to build Medieval, Renaissance, and Industrial Era Wonders with +20% production
- Double tourism from all Wonders
- Able to build Château improvement, which gains culture for each adjacent wonder and provides tourism equal to its output culture after researching Flight
France can appear to be quite unassuming at first glance, as there are other civilizations with a higher priority to pay attention to due to their strengths, such as Russia and Korea in gaining Science Victory, or Schytia and the Mongols in their pursuit of a Domination Victory.
However, when they managed to acquire several wonders, France was a force to be reckoned with as they were guaranteed to try to win a Culture Victory. Moreover, French players can gain a mass amount of both culture and tourism once they get 1–2 wonders going with their unique Château improvements.
1
Greece – Pericles
Rush Acropolis Out Early To Gain Solid Culture Victory Foundation
- Able to build Acropolis, a replacement for Theater Square with lower production cost and adjacent bonuses from districts
- Gains an additional Wildcard policy slot for all governments
- Gain +5 percent Culture from City-States that Pericles controls as Suzerain
As one of the owners of the strongest unique districts, which is the Acropolis, Greece becomes one of the viable civilizations for a Culture Victory as they will be able to acquire a large amount of culture relatively early by rushing to build Acropolises in their cities. Greece also has an extra Wildcard policy for its government, including Chiefdom, which means that they can start passively generating Great Person points very early on through the first Wildcard policy cards.
Pericles also has the added bonus of gaining extra Culture from the City-States that the player controls. Greece players should therefore target as many City-States as they can so that other civilizations won’t be able to overtake them in the race to be the dominant culture on the map.