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It is very difficult to create an advanced, confident civilization with a small number of cities, and it's almost impossible without a strong military. The more cities you own, the more capital you generate, the more religion, culture, science, gold, military units you are able to acquire. If a rival starts homing in on a non-military victory condition, a sudden invasion can spoil all their sneaky peacenik plans.Ĭivilization 6 is a numbers game. Military might is also useful in late game. The more land you own, the less for everyone else. Size of empire yields a lot of points, and it's a zero-sum situation.
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But military might is also useful to win a points victory.
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The most overtly militaristic victory condition is Domination, in which the player must capture all rival capital cities. How do you play as a strict pacifist, and what's the point? But these victory conditions are almost always predicated on a strong military, and perhaps an aggressively imperialist foreign policy. It's possible to win the game through a technological space race, or cultural / religious dominance. As in real history, all Civ sessions feature intense rivalries between competing nations which often spill into open conflict.Ĭiv 6's design strongly encourages use of military units as a means to victory. The game purports to simulate the rise of a society from ancient times to the near-future. By playing as a pacifist, I wanted to see if it was possible to survive, abiding by a strict policy of non-violence. Civilization 6 is designed to make you fight. In all my 20-odd years playing Civ games, this is a first for me.
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