Ethiopian (Civ6)

The Ethiopian people represent a civilization in Civilization VI. They are led by Menelik II, under whom their default colors are yellow and dark green. They are available with the Ethiopia Pack, which was released on July 23, 2020.
The Ethiopians' civilization ability is Aksumite Legacy, which provides each city with extra for each copy of improved resources inside, increases the yield of their international s based on resources in the origin city, and allows them to purchase Archaeological Museums and Archaeologists with . Their unique unit is the Oromo Cavalry (which replaces the Courser), and their unique tile improvement is the Rock-Hewn Church.
== Strategy ==
Starting bias: Tier 2 towards Hills (except Snow Hills).
Ethiopia under Menelik II has the ability to truly weaponize the most underrated yet versatile currency in Civilization VI: . A formidable foe for a Religious Victory, Cultural Victory, Scientific Victory or even a Domination Victory, Ethiopia will charge toward the finish line just solely thanks to their unparalleled capability to generate .
=== Aksumite Legacy ===
==== Extra Faith from improved resources and Trade Routes ====
This ability is the crux of all Ethiopian power: the sheer amount of per turn they can generate can make any Religious/Cultural empire jealous. Every improved resource of every type (bonus, strategic and luxury) inside Ethiopian territory will generate 1 . This will get amplified even further if the city has many copies of the same resource. For example, if you have 1 improved copy of , that copy will earn you 1, as expected. If you have 2 improved copies, however, each copy will grant 2 , for a total of 4 . If you have 3 improved copies, each will grant 3 , for a total of 9 . Therefore, a city with 2 copies of will generate a different amount of from resources than a city with 1 copy of and 1 copy of (4 vs. 2 ). Overall, the formula for this is if you have X copies of the same resource inside a city, that city will earn X2 from that resource type. If you're lucky enough to find a resource-rich area, especially areas where there are duplicates of multiple resources, a city can easily provide you a huge amount of just from resources alone. The best aspect of this ability is that the extra is added straight to the City Center (which you can check by hovering your mouse over the generation on the city panel), which means you don't even have to work the resource tiles to make use of their .
The bonus from s is also a welcome bonus, albeit noticeably less significant. For every resource in the city, you will receive 0.5 extra every time you send a from that city, regardless of resource diversity. This means unlike the extra from resources where 2 copies of the same resource will grant a different amount of from having 1 copy of 2 different resources, the extra from s will not differentiate between different types of resources. Since you can customize which cities can send how many s, if you truly want to maximize it, you can check the city panel of every city you have to see which one has the most resources and send the majority of your s from there. However, considering how much you will be generating already from this, plus the Rock-Hewn Churches, it does not sound necessary to squeeze a little bit of out, especially the end results in of this aspect is only 50% as effective as the extra from resources.
==== Ability to purchase Archaeological Museums and Archaeologists with Faith ====
This ability gives your income a little bit more flexibility, not a whole lot, but a welcome bit. It is significantly weaker than the Jesuit Education belief or the equivalent Malian civilization ability to purchase all Commercial Hub buildings with . You can only buy Archaeological Museums and Archaeologists with , helping you transition from a Religious Victory to a Cultural Victory, or at least having that route as a backup. With your busted generation, it is very tempting to instant buy Archaeological Museums in all cities, but you should build Art Museums as well to make use of your potential s.
=== Council of Ministers ===
This simple bonus is the one reason why Ethiopia is the most well-rounded religious civilization in the game. It only has one simple condition to satisfy: settle your cities on Hills. These Hills cities will then generate and based on their output. Similar to the Ethiopian civilization ability, this one is so strong because the requirement for it to be active is something you want to do regardless of which civilization you're playing: you want to improve your resources and send s for , and this output will be automatically translated into and when the cities are on Hills. This also means if Ethiopia misses the window of opportunity for a Religious Victory, they can still aim for a Cultural Victory much better, and to a lesser extent, a Scientific Victory (Ethiopia doesn't have any bonus towards save for their starting bias toward Hills).
Menelik II's ability also has a second smaller and less significant aspect. It grants +4 Combat Strength to all units when fighting on Hills. Similar to other bonuses of the same trope (+X Combat Strength when fighting on certain terrains), the site of the battle depends on the tile where the defender stands. Therefore, Ethiopian units will receive the bonus when they attack into a Hills tile and when they get attacked (i.e., defend) on a Hills tile. This is a somewhat useful bonus on offense but nowhere near game-changing, and it works much better on defense since Ethiopia has strong incentives to settle in hilly areas.
=== Oromo Cavalry ===
Not exactly the most memorable or flashy unique unit, the Oromo Cavalry is the most "quiet" piece in the Ethiopian arsenal. It is only slightly stronger than the standard Courser, with a conditional Combat Strength bonus from Menelik II's ability. However, it does have better maneuverability in hilly terrain and higher than a regular Courser. Coupled with the fact that this is a light cavalry unit, it shines brighter working as a scout for imminent threats approaching your border, or as a "spotter" (i.e., a unit that works solely to provide vision and intel on the enemy's army). In aggressive conquest, rather than functioning as a true militaristic unit, its outstanding mobility in hilly areas, when combined with Depredation, can make this unit a huge annoyance to deal with. Though it can easily escape from perilous situations through tactical pillaging and retreat, it, similarly to other light cavalry units, poses little threat to walled cities, because it is not supported by Battering Rams and Siege Towers, and its tree is not geared towards conquest. For that reason, don't go overboard with this unit, mix it with melee combined with siege support, and throw in some heavy calvary units for brute force.
Overall, even when Ethiopia can compete well on the domination path thanks to their outstandingly high generation and Theocracy or the Grand Master's Chapel, it is definitely not because of this unit. The Oromo Cavalry is not crucial in any Ethiopian strategy; you can rely exclusively on Knights to defend or conquer if you have more abundant than and there are not any major consequences for that.
=== Rock-Hewn Church ===
Maximizing generation is the key to Ethiopia's strategy under Menelik II, and the Rock-Hewn Church helps considerably with these efforts. A single one can provide up to +7 if surrounded by Hills and/or Mountains, which also translates to +1 and bonuses for a city founded on Hills. Once Flight is researched, it starts providing equal to its tile's bonus (including any bonuses from pantheons and being adjacent to a natural wonder or a Nazca Line), and its Appeal bonus can help create better places for National Parks and Seaside Resorts.
The Rock-Hewn Church helps spur the Ethiopians toward a Cultural Victory, especially if they use their accumulated to purchase Archaeological Museums and Archaeologists to fill them with Artifacts. Even if a Cultural Victory isn't their first choice, just the sheer output of this improvement plays very well into the Ethiopian toolkit, both for the additional and and quickly summoning a large army if they adopt Theocracy or build the Grand Master's Chapel.
In Gathering Storm, the Rock-Hewn Church cannot be removed from tiles by natural disasters, making it ideal for improving the tiles around active Volcanoes.
=== Victory Types ===
Religious and Cultural Victories are Ethiopia's best options, and largely go hand in hand. In favorable terrain, their Rock-Hewn Churches allow them to produce like few other civilizations can, which they can then use to purchase Missionaries and Apostles to spread their religion and attempt to win an early Religious Victory. If the game lasts so long that a Religious Victory is no longer feasible, they can start using their to purchase Archaeological Museums and Archaeologists and collect Artifacts to increase their and output. With Heritage Tourism, the bonuses they'll receive from their Rock-Hewn Churches, and maintaining s with other civilizations, shifting to a Cultural Victory should be a simple and effective strategy for Ethiopia.
Ethiopia can compete decently well for a Domination Victory, despite having an underwhelming unique unit and no apparent bonus towards waging wars. Their power comes from being able to instantly field a massive army to surprise your enemies, most likely your next door neighbor, by amassing , build the Grand Master's Chapel and most likely adopt Theocracy as the tier 2 Government for the purchase cost reduction. Even their religion can be customized to aid them further in battle. With the Crusade belief and Wars of Religion policy card, on top of Menelik's ability, Ethiopian units can gain up to 18 Combat Strength. However, remember you still have to convert enemies' cities one by one, so that you can benefit from both the policy card and the Crusade belief. Not to mention, their huge output also leads to an above average output, putting you ahead of your opponents on the tech tree.
In summary, Ethiopia can snowball much harder than other civilizations if they are able to capture a few cities, since they will always bolster their output, leading to even more military units. If the conquered cities happen to be on Hills, their technological advancement will only grow, leading to an even easier conquest of the rest of the map.
=== Counter Strategy ===
It is hard to inhibit Ethiopia's generation, since they get out of the most mundane tasks that everyone would have to do anyway, like improving resources, sending s, and simply settling on Hills. Even the few effective methods require near-constant warmongering (such as plundering their s constantly), and it's hard to justify being hated by every other civilization and racking up incredible war weariness just to counter Ethiopia, so only do so if your plan was to wage war on Ethiopia anyway. When you do, it's worth completely crippling the entire civilization by taking their cities instead of using guerrilla tactics (i.e., pillaging and plundering s). Ethiopia does have one defensive mechanic, but it's lousy to say the least. +4 Combat Strength when fighting on Hills is not significant enough, especially if you compare it with other defensive powerhouse civilizations like Vietnam or Gaul. Also, their unique unit is very underwhelming - the Oromo Cavalry is technically a "defensive" unit but it doesn't even do that job well - so there's virtually no defensive power spike that you need to take into account before attacking. As long as you hit your own offensive power spike, you can run over Ethiopia. Remember, the extra Combat Strength considers the tile of the defender, so as long as you try not to end your turn on Hills or attack Ethiopian units that are standing on Hills, you can easily bypass this.
Another method is to forward settle them on Hills. If the Ethiopians can't settle on Hills, then Menelik II's phenomenal yield bonuses will never come into play. Of course, this is a lot easier said than done. This method is more beneficial when Ethiopia somehow spawns on the edge of the continent (next to the coastline), since you most likely can only block off their expansion in one direction. Think of this similarly to how you play against the Maya, another civilization where you also want to forward settle to limit their expansion space. Pay attention to Loyalty levels, and make sure your strategic settlements have Walls and a defending army in case of an Ethiopian attack. The good news is that Ethiopia isn't amazing at offensive skirmishes since their Combat Strength bonus and unit are insignificant; the bad news is that with their output and the Grand Master's Chapel (or Theocracy), they can quickly summon up a large army for invasions, and since this can potentially happen at any point from the Medieval Era onward, you always need to be on guard.
== Civilopedia entry ==
== Cities ==
== Citizens ==
Males 	Females 	Modern males	Modern females
Dagnew 	Birhan 	Abebe 	Abebech
Dawit 	Dinqinesh	Berhanu 	Alemitu
Iyasu 	Masoba 	Dejene 	Bizunesh
Makonnen	Menen 	Deriba 	Fatuma
Mengesha	Mentewab 	Girma 	Genet
Meshesha	Senedu 	Habte 	Hiwot
Sebhat 	Taytu 	Haile 	Merima
Tekle 	Tewabech 	Hailu 	Meseret
Wolde 	Tiruwork 	Moges 	Netsanet
Yohannes	Zewditu 	Tesfaye 	Tigist
== Trivia ==
* The Ethiopian civilization's symbol is the Lion of Judah, a common symbol in historic Ethiopian flags.
* The Ethiopian civilization ability references the Kingdom of Aksum, which ruled Eritrea and northern Ethiopia from approximately 80 BC to 825 AD.
* The introduction of Ethiopia in Civilization VI marks the third time they have been featured in the Civilization franchise, every time led by a different leader: Zara Yaqob in Civilization IV, Haile Selassie in Civilization V, and Menelik II in Civilization VI.
==Soundtrack==
== Gallery ==
File:Civ6 Oromo Cavalry In-Game.jpg|The Oromo Cavalry, Ethiopia's unique unit
File:Civ6 Rock-Hewn Church In-Game.jpg|The Rock-Hewn Church, Ethiopia's unique improvement
== Videos ==
File:Civilization VI - First Look- Ethiopia - Civilization VI - New Frontier Pass|First Look: Ethiopia
File:Civilization VI - Ethiopia Pack Developer Livestream VOD|Ethiopia livestream with Pete Murray, Anton Strenger, and Albert Briggs
== Related achievements ==
== See also ==
* Ethiopian in other games
== External links ==
* https://civilization.com/new-frontier-pass/civilization-vi-ethiopia-pack/
ru:Эфиопия (Civ6)
Category:Ethiopian
Category:Civilization VI: New Frontier Pass