Scotland are the next addition to Civilization VI’s Rise and Fall expansion. They’re led by their 14th-century king, Robert the Bruce, who scored several famous victories against the occupying English at the height of the Medieval period.
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Robert’s leader ability, Bannockburn, enables Scotland to declare a War of Liberation after gaining Defensive Tactics rather than Diplomatic Service, which comes much later in the civics tree. Under Robert, a War of Liberation will also grant +100% Production and +2 Movement for its first 10 turns. As a reminder, Wars of Liberation can be declared on anyone that has captured a city from one of your friends or allies, so you’ll need some of them to make use of it.
Robert’s leader agenda is Flower of Scotland – he does not like civs picking on his neighbours, will never do so himself, and will like you if you’re not at war with them.
Scotland’s unique ability is Scottish Enlightenment, which will grant happy cities an additional +5% Science and +5% Production, as well as +1 Great Scientist points per Campus and +1 Great Engineer points per Industrial Zone. All those values are doubled if the city is ecstatic.
Which is where Scotland’s unique improvement, the Golf Course, comes in. It grants +1 Amenity, +2 Gold, and +1 Appeal. It also gets +1 Culture if adjacent to a City Centre, and another +1 Culture if next to an Entertainment Complex. As you advance through the civics and tech trees, it will grant additional tourism and housing.
Finally, Scotland’s unique unit is the Highlander.A strong recon unit replacing the Ranger, Highlanders get +5 combat strength in hills and forests.
Though the War of Liberation and the Highlander are nicely flavourful and historical, it’s the civ ability that really makes Scotland. Science and Production are the two most universally useful resources in the game – so much so that if you can keep your cities happy enough and big enough to fully utilise this ability, you can choose whichever victory you want. Scotland in Civ VI are builders, not warriors.
We’ll be streaming Rise and Fall – though sadly not Scotland – live later today, so if you’re reading this from 15:00 GMT, come over to our Twitch and say hi: