The recent addition of the New Frontier content packs has breathed new leaders and new life into the Civilization 6 world and many players are revisiting the granddaddy of 4X games. While Civilization 6 depends on the same core concepts that longtime players know by heart, the newest iteration of the classic series has enough new elements that a refresher course can be helpful before a game of world domination.
One of the things that have changed is the specifics of invading and conquering cities in the game. While there are certain mechanics of combat that will look familiar to fans of the series, there are a few subtle changes that mean that easy to make errors can have long term consequences. This guide will tell players exactly what to do to invade and take over a city in Civilization 6.
City Combat Basics In Civilization 6
The key to taking over an enemy city is to get a unit to defeat the health of the city center tile and then physically take it over. Importantly, the unit that takes over the city center must be a melee unit. Archers can do damage to the city’s health, but they cannot take over a city without the help or a warrior or more advanced melee unit.
However, one of the main differences in invading and taking over a city in Civilization 6 as opposed to its predecessors is the impact that walls have on combat. In previous versions, it was relatively straight forward to get past a wall with brute force. Even though siege weapons were a helpful too, a lack of them wouldn’t halt progress altogether.
Siege Units In Civilization 6
That is no longer the case. Regular melee units do less than a quarter of their original damage to walls, and ranged units only do half. In Civilization 6, players need siege units to be able to get past walls or the enemy will be able to huddle up and pick off troops using the built-in ranged defenses that cities have.
However, while this is a significant advantage for walls this time around, there are some other important factors players should be aware of that play to their strengths as an attacker. One important thing to know is the damage done to walls is somewhat permanent. While a cities health automatically will regenerate, players on the defensive must pay to repair their walls. In addition, they cannot pay to perform this task unless their walls have not been attacked for three turns – meaning that attackers can take some time to get through them.
Strategy For City Invasion In Civilization 6
In the early game, there are really just two main options for getting past walls – battering rams and siege towers. Siege towers enable melee units to attack city health past any walls while battering rams let players directly assault the walls. Both of these tools will continue to be useful for multiple eras and will let the player do enough damage to get past even the most well-defended foe.
As the game progresses, the player will gain access to artillery, catapults, and bombards that will make assaults a little easier, although opponents wall technology will also increase. But no matter the era the general idea remains the same. Hit the walls with siege technology as hard and follow it up with melee units to conquer the city.
Civilization 6 is available on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One