Arabian (Civ6)

The Arabian people (sometimes Arabic people or Arabs) represent a civilization in Civilization VI. They are led by Vizier Saladin, under whom their default colors are yellow and dark green; and Sultan Saladin, under whom their default colors are dark green and light green. 
The Arabian civilization ability is The Last Prophet, which automatically grants Arabia the final when the next-to-last one is claimed (if they have not already earned one) and provides a +1 bonus per foreign city following their religion. Their unique unit is the Mamluk (which replaces the Knight), and their unique building is the Madrasa (which replaces the University).
== Strategy ==
Starting bias: None
Religion and are brought together in a perfect union when playing as Arabia. With great output from not only their worship building and followers in other civilizations, but early Madrasas as well, they are well-equipped for a Science Victory, with Religious and Domination Victory as good backups.
=== The Last Prophet ===
==== Automatically receive a free Great Prophet ====
For every other religious civilizations in the game, the early game is absolutely crucial, since they have to forgo other priorities in order to found a religion. This is not the case with Arabia, since they are guaranteed to be able to found a religion every single game. Whenever the penultimate is claimed, Arabia is automatically granted the last one if they haven't received one yet. However, there are a few problems to consider when it comes to this ability, as you may not want to rely too much on it every game:
* Being able to found the last religion means all good beliefs may be completely gone. There is no doubt that there are very strong beliefs that will most likely get picked up by the first or second religion. When it comes to the last one, basically you are choosing beliefs from a pool of things that no one truly wants. 
* On larger maps with many players, there exists a chance that the penultimate is never claimed or claimed very late into the game, since there are some civilizations who do not have a religious incentive to build Holy Sites. This means in certain games, you have to build Holy Sites and try to earn a the normal way anyway and still end up with a pool of less-than-desirable beliefs to choose from.
* If a religious victory is what you are pursuing, you should know this type of victory is quite a limited window of opportunity. The later you found your religion, the more likely every empire around you either has a religion of their own or already adopts one from someone else. It is a lot easier to convert a pagan city than to convert a city away from its existing religion, especially when you compare the cost of purchasing Missionaries and Apostles.
All in all, this ability makes your earlier game a little bit more relaxed than other religious civilizations, you don't have to drop everything trying to found a religion, since you are guaranteed one (even though a weak religion with underwhelming beliefs is almost guaranteed if you play the game with religion the dead last priority) but by no means you should completely delay the construction of Holy Sites for eras. Almost all of Arabia's bonuses (except for the Mamluk) relies on the fact you have a religion and they are available very early on without significant scaling into late game; therefore by delaying religions, you are delaying your own potential. Use it ability-wise as a last resort only.
====Bonus from foreign cities following Arabia's religion====
This ability is one of those that it doesn't hurt that it is there, since it is attached to an action you would want to do regardless (spreading your religion to other empires), but it is not by any means significant enough to make an impact. 1 per foreign city is very small, considering the amount of expended to convert those cities, but it can go well with Cross-Cultural Dialogue belief. Again, since this ability is already quite insignificant and without any scaling potential, an early religion is required as soon as possible, which is very antisynergistic with the first aspect of this ability.
==== Religion ====
* Follower: There are always more than one viable Follower Belief Arabia can choose, depending on what is left in store. 
** Jesuit Education is, by quite a large margin, the best Follower Belief for Arabia, since it synergizes incredibly well with Vizier Saladin, allowing him to quickly build up his scientific and cultural infrastructure. Also, this belief helps counteract the expensive cost of a Madrasa.
** Choral Music and Feed the World are always great for any civilization, but they tend to go first from the pool. If you rely on the ability to earn the last , you won't ever see this in your game.
** Work Ethic and Zen Meditation can also be useful if all 3 above are gone.
* Founder: Anything that provides extra and (Cross-Cultural Dialogue, World Church, Stewardship, Lay Ministry) is great for a scientific game. 
** Cross-Cultural Dialogue and World Church rely on your ability to spread your religion to other civilizations, so pick either of these when you are neighboring a civilization with little religious incentive.
** Stewardship and Lay Ministry are weaker but more reliable, since it counts your own cities. If you are able to secure a large, isolated plot of land that can be populated with cities, go for either of these.
* Worship: In short, Mosque for a religious game on a small map or below in size, Wat or, preferably, Meeting House for a scientific game. Remember, Wat and Meeting House go quickly from the pool. 
* Enhancer: Now comes to the tricky part.
** Crusade: Mamluks are really strong, especially if you can secure Abu Al-Qasim Al-Zahrawi and a Chaplain-promoted Apostle, since each Mamluk next to both will automatically heals 45 HP even when inside enemy territory. While the latter is easy to get, only evangelize your religion and pick Crusade if you can secure Al-Zahrawi. A large empire with a lot of cities is the way to go for a scientific game. Definitely pick this if playing as Sultan Saladin.
** Holy Order: definitely a must for a religious game.
=== Righteousness Of The Faith (Vizier Saladin) ===
Unlike most other civilizations, Arabia under Saladin should place a heavy emphasis on worship buildings. Of course, you still shouldn't pick a Worship belief with your Follower belief when founding your religion, because you cannot build them without Temples anyway. However, right after founding your religion, thus triggering the for Theology, that is the civic you should beeline. Theology not only unlocks your unique building, but also the Temple and the Mahabodhi Temple, allowing you to evangelize your religion and build worship buildings. This is because they can and should purchase it for essentially nothing at all in every city with a Holy Site. Picking an early Worship Belief also gives you the pick of the lot, giving you the freedom to choose what you truly want, like the Wat or the Meeting House (if going for a science victory), or even the Mosque (if going for a religious victory).
All worship buildings have the production cost of 190 and alternatively, they can be purchased with 380 . Arabian worship buildings can always be purchased with a whopping 90% discount in (38 ), and will be totally free if Theocracy is the chosen government. That means every worship building will pay for itself in just 13 turns, and that doesn't even take into account its secondary effect. Every city of yours that has this incredibly cheap building in it gets a massive boost to its , , and . +10% is already half what the powerful Oxford University does, and the additional yields to and make the Holy Site with a worship building a must in every city. If following this strategy, consider picking Jesuit Education as a follower belief. While they won't be discounted like Holy Site buildings, you should have ample production to easily buy Campus and Theater Square district buildings, allowing your to focus elsewhere (although it is worth noting that Jesuit Education is a highly contested belief, so if you are just going to rely on your civilization ability to earn a , you most likely won't get this belief).
Keep in mind that while other empires do not benefit from the 10% , and , they do receive the 90% discount if your religion is ever spread to their cities. Considering that civilizations that love building Holy Sites are most likely religious civilizations who can contest you on the path to a religious victory, spread your religion to them with discretion, or else you will hand over to your enemies a lot of cheap . If you are going for a religious victory, save these religious civilizations for last.
The Dark Age policy card Monasticism can be incredibly powerful with Arabia, if you manage to get into a Dark Age. The downside of this card can be alleviated partially by the leader ability, and an extra 75% in every city with a Holy Site (which is pretty much every city in your empire) can be a deciding factor to help you accelerate toward that science victory.
=== The Victorious (Sultan Saladin) ===
With Sultan Saladin, you will have to rush Military Tradition almost immediately after Political Philosophy in order to benefit from the bonus. While this bonus may not seem as strong as Vizier Saladin's bonus, it is still very powerful if you build up your army. Take, for example, an enemy you have surrounded with three Units. Normally you would get a +4 Combat Strength for the center unit and +2 for the others. The Victorious doubles these bonuses, meaning a whopping 8 extra Combat Strength! Additionally, you will also get bonus Combat Strength for support, meaning if you are defending on hills with a forest while surrounded by two units, you can get up to 16 extra combat strength! For more information on flanking and support bonuses, head here. 
Of course, you can start your conquest right after Military Tradition, but that is often not advisable. Bonus flanking and support seems strong, but they don't win wars on their own, so it is best to wait until the arrival of Mamluks. In the meantime, build Campuses and Madrasa and compete for Abu Al-Qasim Al-Zahrawi and get a Chaplain-promoted Apostle, they will be keys in your conquest for a long time. Also, stock up and build Heavy Chariots. If you are neighboring a non-religious civilization, spread your religion with Crusade to them. Otherwise, keep a Proselytizer-promoted Apostle with you on your conquest. The biggest hurdle of a conquest is always the beginning, then you will be able to snowball the rest of the map. With Mamluks that can heal 45 HP every single turn, that doesn't seem like a tall order, especially you can quickly train 4-5 Mamluks. Upgrading a Heavy Chariot to a Mamluk costs 320 , very pricey, so you have to rush Divine Right to unlock Chivalry and train them the traditional way as well. 
Keep in mind, this bonus affects religious units as well, so you will have not only an edge in domination, but also a better than average religious game if you so choose. 
=== Madrasa ===
The most outstanding factor of the Madrasa is that it unlocks with Theology (a Classical civic) instead of Education (a Medieval technology). Just the fact that Education is a difficult technology to beeline while the path to Theology is short and straightforward (and Arabia is guaranteed to be able to trigger its ) means Arabia can start constructing this building a lot earlier than other civilizations with their regular University. However, since the Madrasa is not any cheaper than the University, being able to build multiple Madrasas right after it is unlocked is a hard task, so you should combine the construction with Magnus and some Woods chopping. Consider going straight for Theology after researching Political Philosophy (for tier 1 governments), and maybe Military Tradition (for Maneuver to build Heavy Chariots and upgrade them into Mamluks later).
Compared to the University, the Madrasa provides an additional and some depending on the adjacency bonus of the Campus it is in. The extra point of does not sound like much on its own but when combined with the fact that you unlock this building long before others get theirs, it becomes quite significant. The extra is obviously a nice boost to Arabia as a whole, and is especially synergistic with Saladin's bonuses to both and .
The biggest issue with the Madrasa is that it is way too expensive to be a Classical building. Arabia gets access to this unique University almost 1.5 eras sooner than everyone else, yet the price tag of this building (especially when considering the production infrastructure at this time is almost non-existent) means actually being able to build this is a struggle. This is the reason why you shouldn't wait until the last , since the last religion is never going to get Jesuit Education, a critical belief for Arabia. If you don't have Jesuit Education, establish Magnus in a city and try to chop out Madrasas. 
=== Mamluk ===
The power of the Mamluk lies in the fact that it can heal at the end of every turn, and how easily this ability can be compounded to become totally broken. Normally, a unit can only heal at the end of the turn if that unit has all its left, but that does not apply to the Mamluk, as it can heal at the end of every turn. However, how much they heal still depends on the territory they end their turn on: 20 HP inside City Centers, 15 HP on friendly territory, 10 HP on neutral territory and 5 HP on hostile territory. At a glance, this bonus does not seem too useful in conquest, since healing 5 HP at the end of a turn sounds trivial, and if you have to run away to heal then it defeats the purpose of having a unit that can heal after moving and attacking. What is so powerful about this is what you can add on top of this bonus to make your Mamluk borderline unkillable.
First, it is important to note that this ability can be combined with other healing bonuses, most notably Abu Al-Qasim Al-Zahrawi and a Chaplain-promoted Apostle. Both of these two function similarly to an early Medic, where all adjacent units will heal 20 HP more if ending their turn next to them. And since Mamluk can heal at the end of every turn even after moving to attacking, the trivial 5 HP heal inside enemy territory now suddenly becomes 45 HP, almost equal to a Farm pillage every turn. It is also worth noting that and religious units can stack on top of each other and on top of a military unit, which facilitates this healing even more. However, since the radii of these abilities are both 1, it can be hard sometimes to allow all Mamluk to simultaneously benefit off both of them, especially in a siege, when enemy s exert zone of control against both and religious units. The good thing is cavalry units ignore zone of control, so make sure you don't put Al-Zahrawi and the Apostle in a formation and switch positions of your Mamluk so that the wounded ones get the most healing benefits. To get this to the next level, try God of Healing pantheon. This is a largely useless pantheon and almost nobody ever picks it, but go for it if you want something new. Despite the tooltip, this pantheon grants an extra 30 HP when healing next to any Holy Site, not necessarily your own. That means when the Mamluk is fighting another religious civilization, it can heal 75 HP maximum if all of those conditions line up. In addition, any Mamluk that enters the Fountain of Youth also receives a special that allows them to heal 10 HP more every turn. Furthermore, Moksha's Laying On Of Hands can also combine incredibly well with this unit. This title allows all units on the city's territory to heal completely within a turn, so all you need to do is to establish Moksha inside the city nearest to the battlefield, preferably in a city you just captured. Moksha will keep its Loyalty high, just like every other Governors, but every Mamluk who ends its turn there will be fully heal, without even wasting a turn of fortifying. With this much healing, an army of Mamluks can actually survive quite well when sieging cities without siege units, since they can just heal up after slamming themselves into Walls.
Knights in general, and Mamluks especially, were an indomitable force of the medieval battlefield in Civilization VI at launch. A large series of direct and indirect nerfs have changed that:
* the tech requirements of Stirrups have changed making it harder to beeline; 
* Knights are also more expensive;
* cavalry units used to be able to benefit from siege support;
* anti-cavalry units have been improved, notably including the creation of the Pike and Shot; and
* unique units used to require no strategic resources at all, now they merely receive a discount (usually 50%) in Gathering Storm.
Mamluks in general are still decent, as long as you get your hand on Al-Zahrawi and at least a Chaplain Apostle. After Feudalism (to trigger the of Stirrups), head straight for Divine Right to unlock Monarchy and Chivalry, and start taking advantage of the short window of relevance of Mamluks, before the construction of Medieval and Renaissance Walls everywhere.   
=== Victory Types ===
==== Vizier Saladin ====
Arabia under Vizier Saladin is a very versatile civ. It has a bonus towards Domination Victory, via the Mamluk; it has a bonus towards Religious Victory, via his leader ability; and it has three bonuses towards Scientific Victory, via both the leader and civilization ability, and the Madrasa. It just doesn't have any bonuses, and might not be as good for a Cultural Victory.
Arabia's religious and scientific strengths go hand in hand, which is to say that by going for one you propel yourself toward the other as well. Domination rides mostly on the Mamluk, which, while an undeniably strong unit with the right setup, will not carry you by itself. If you seek world conquest, it is worthwhile to build up your infrastructure around producing units as well. And if this is your plan, make sure to target other civilizations with religions first and foremost - the more you can spread your religion and worship building without resistance, the better.
==== Sultan Saladin ====
Sultan Saladin trades off some of the scientific and religious strength of Vizier Saladin for a bonus that is mostly a military one, but the extra flanking bonus extending to theological combat certainly makes them dangerous in the religious game too. While the two can combine (especially with Chaplain-promoted Apostles as described above), there is not the same tight synergy Byzantium or Spain have. One option is to focus mostly on domination, knowing if you can defend your own guaranteed religion in your own lands, nobody can stop you by getting a Religious Victory before you've conquered the globe. This is most useful on high difficulty levels, where you can build a war machine from the start for both defensive and offensive purposes when other civilizations have to pretty much drop everything to get Holy Sites up in time to get a religion at all.
=== Counter Strategy ===
==== The Last Prophet ====
Arabia is guaranteed to have a religion every game, but if you are over-reliant on this ability, they will only have the last pick of beliefs. Hence, if you know they are in your game, you can tailor your religion so that you can deny the beliefs you know they may want, like Jesuit Education follower belief, or Wat and Meeting House worship belief. These are strong beliefs that any civilization can take advantage of, so don't think of it as going out of your way just to counter Arabia.
==== Vizier Saladin ====
Vizier Saladin's bonus is tied to the number of foreign cities with his religion, regardless of the size of those cities, so they benefit more from converting a lot of small cities. You can use Inquisitors, or simply convert these cities away from Arabia's religion, or even wage a war to condemn their religious units if you feel they are inching toward a religious victory.
This leader ability is one that can be played to the benefit of other civilizations. You can let him convert cities that have Holy Sites to be able to buy worship buildings at a cheap cost, and then convert those cities away from his religion to deny him the bonus together with any extra bonus provided by his founder belief.
==== Sultan Saladin ====
The big danger you have to worry about with Sultan Saladin is strength in numbers and a Mamluk timing push. For the latter, it's particularly important to focus fire on individual Mamluks so that you can actually kill them - it's very easy for merely wounded units to stay alive if they have other bonuses to healing. Some of these you can't deny, but access to Abu Al-Qasim Al-Zahrawi is one you can; consider acquiring him via patronage if war with Arabia is a threat.
== Civilopedia entry ==
== Cities ==
== Citizens ==
Males 	Females 	Modern males	Modern females
Abdullah 	Aaleyah 	Abd-al-Bari 	Cantara
Abubakr 	Amatullah	Arif 	Jamilah
Barrani 	Azizah 	Diya-al-Din 	Khalidah
Dammar 	Bashima 	Gadi 	Leilah
El-marees	Damis 	Hakim 	Nada
Faisal 	Fatimah 	Hassan 	Qitarah
Jafar 	Habibah 	Musad 	Shakira
Kasim 	Izdihar 	Nadir 	Widad
Rabbani 	Mawiyah 	Qssim 	Yasmin
Siraj 	Rihana 	Tarik 	Zia
== Trivia ==
* The Arabian civilization's symbol is a crescent (most likely from the star and crescent) and a Judean date palm, which appears on the Saudi Arabian national emblem.
* The Arabian civilization ability references the Muslim belief that Muhammad was the last prophet sent by God.
* The developer's pitch for Arabia was posted by Pete Murray, and can be found in an archived thread on Reddit.
==Soundtrack==
== Gallery ==
File:Civ 6 Madrasa.jpg|The Madrasa, Arabia's unique building
File:Arabian capital.JPG|Arabian capital in Medieval Era
== Videos ==
thumb|center|300px|First Look: Arabia
== Related achievements ==
== See also ==
* Arabian in other games
ru:Аравия (Civ6)
Category:Arabian