Scottish (Civ6)

The Scottish people (or Scots) represent a civilization in Civilization VI: Rise and Fall. They are led by Robert the Bruce, under whom their default colors are white and blue.
The Scots' civilization ability is Scottish Enlightenment, which provides Happy cities with +5% and and +1 and point in the appropriate s (and doubles these bonuses in Ecstatic cities). Their unique unit is the Highlander (which replaces the Ranger), and their unique tile improvement is the Golf Course.
== Strategy ==
Starting bias: None
Scotland is a and powerhouse that is geared towards a Science Victory, with a Domination Victory backup, thanks to their technological advantage. Their unique gameplay spins around keeping their loyal subjects happy with high level of , through which the empire accelerates into the future with scientific innovations.
=== Scottish Enlightenment ===
Note: After numerous changes to in the Gathering Storm ruleset, the thresholds in Gathering Storm are much higher than in Rise and Fall, but bonuses from are also more bountiful in Gathering Storm. The following guide only uses the thresholds and bonuses of the Gathering Storm ruleset, since it is significantly harder to achieve Happy and Ecstatic cities now. However, any strategy discussed here (how to gather , how to check current status, etc.) still applies to Rise and Fall ruleset. This guide is written so you can achieve Happy and Ecstatic cities in Gathering Storm, so if you follow all these steps, achieving the same thing in Rise and Fall shouldn't be a problem.
If there is anything to learn about Scotland, it is this ability: it is what makes-or-breaks Scotland. Similar to Korea, Scotland only has one ability that is actually meaningful: you have a worthless unique unit, a leader ability that almost never comes into play since it relies so much on the behavior of others, and one of the worst unique improvements in the game that only serves as an extension of the civilization ability. Unlike the foolproof Seowon, Scottish Enlightenment is an ability that can fail, especially for players inexperienced with the system. Failing to activate this ability will leave you playing a vanilla civilization with no uniques or bonuses.
==== Understanding ====
 in Civilization VI is comparable to in Civilization V, but overall, the new system is a lot more forgiving. It is nowhere near as punishing as , which means you can safely ignore in most of the games you play, especially when you consider that extra cities may result in low , but the yields received from having satellites cities will always outweigh the penalties from (which partially explains why Entertainment Complexes and Water Parks are generally underused). Since Scotland is the only civilization in the game that is totally obsessed with , their gameplay is quite unique, despite many shortcomings from their other abilities.
In Gathering Storm, cities don't start with a free (they used to do in previous rulesets), with the exception of the , as the Palace now provide 2 from entertainment (1 in previous rulesets). In order to calculate the amount of required for a city to be content, divide its Population by 2 and round up. The number of excess or deficient decides the status of your cities, as follows:
*Ecstatic starts at 5 additional or more, all of the city's yields increase by +20%.
*Happy requires 3-4 additional , all of the city's yields increase by +10%.
*Content starts at 0 to 2 additional , there are no bonuses or penalties applied.
*Displeased starts at 2 to 1 less than required. All non-food yields now decrease by 10%, its Population growth decreases by 15%.
*Unhappy starts at 4 to 3 less than required. All non-food yields now decrease by 20%, its Population growth decreases by 30%.
*Unrest starts at 6 to 5 less than required, all non-food yields decrease by 30%. In addition, Rebel units may begin to appear in the city's territory.
*Revolt starts at 7 less than required or below. All non-food yields now decrease by 40%, Rebel units will appear much more frequently and in greater numbers than ever before.
(Again, these are the thresholds and bonuses for the Gathering Storm ruleset. For previous rulesets, check the page.)
There are two main "types" of : from luxury resources and from entertainment. Though they are functionally identical, you can understand from luxury resources are empire-wide sources of , which will get automatically distributed to cities that require the most, while from entertainment are localized sources of , coming from either , buildings, Wonders, policy cards, or unique abilities, and they cannot be moved freely to other cities.
With the basic mechanics out of the way, let's move to the main part: how to hunt for .
==== Luxury resources ====
Luxury resources are obviously wonderful early sources of . from luxuries get allocated automatically to cities with low , forming the baseline level for . Looking at this baseline, you will recognize which cities require additional from entertainment, so that you can build Entertainment Complexes there without needlessly expending .
Early in the game, scout wide for valuable luxury resources and the other major civilizations for the boost for Writing. The wider the map is, the more luxury resources available. Each continent has 4 unique land luxury resources, with duel maps having only 1 continent up to huge maps having 6 continents. On top of that, duel and tiny maps have 2 water luxury resources, small and standard have 3, large and huge with 4. can count as both a water and land resource so sometimes you can end up with 1 resource fewer than normal. With this in mind, play Scotland in the early game just like how you play Spain. Put a heavy emphasis on exploration to scout out new continents with other types of luxury resources that you don't have yet. Even if settling new cities on a different continent is impossible for whatever reasons (the locations would be too far from your empire, difficult to access, subject to strong foreign Loyalty pressure, etc.), scouting for new continents is great for meeting empires on other continents who have access to luxuries you don't have, which can facilitate trade. Also, since water luxuries are distributed a lot more randomly, you would want to put more emphasis on navigation technologies earlier than other non-naval civilizations, so you can send your Settlers away to colonize small landmasses where you have access to new water luxuries. 
Besides Campuses and Industrial Zones which should be present in every city of yours, Commercial Hubs should also be prioritized, even for coastal cities. Harbors undoubtedly have stronger buildings that give more useful yields, but Commercial Hubs grant a more useful type of . s are incredibly helpful for Scotland, especially the four s that grant unique luxuries: John Spilsbury (), Levi Strauss (), Helena Rubinstein () and Estée Lauder (). Also, s that grant s help Scotland establish strong diplomatic relationships with scientific and industrial city-states, especially when used in combination with Kilwa Kisiwani, an absolute must-build for Scotland on a large or huge map. 
==== from entertainment ====
Since luxuries are limited in number, most you earn in your game will be from entertainment, given by Entertainment Complexes/Water Parks, wonders, policy cards and sometimes city-states.
Entertainment Complexes and Water Parks are obviously the most expensive investments you can make into , but also the most reliable one. An Entertainment Complex and an Arena gives 2 to its parent city, enough to bump that city from Content to Happy, or from Happy to Ecstatic. However, building an Entertainment Complex in every city is such an overkill, since its tier 2 and 3 buildings don't stack, similar to how the Factory and Power Plant work. One early Entertainment Complex and an Arena are an absolute must though, since they allow you to build the almighty Colosseum. The Colosseum grants all cities within 6 tiles 2 , which is the equivalent of building an Entertainment Complex and an Arena in all cities within 6 tiles, without having to dedicate extra or a district slot, which is massive for Scotland. This wonder is just as important to Scotland as the Pyramids to Qin Shi Huang. However, since Scotland doesn't have any bonus in the early game, as well as to reach Games and Recreation fast, you need to build some Monuments, promote Pingala to Connoisseur and beeline that civic immediately after Political Philosophy. Although Classical Republic is clearly the better tier 1 government choice for Scotland, consider adopting Autocracy first just for the wonder bonus, slot in Corvée, since there is never enough emphasis on how crucial the Colosseum is to your gameplay. Remember, don't build the tier 1 government building right now, so you won't stuck with the Autocratic Legacy card, as the Republican Legacy card is way better for you down the road. Theater Squares gain a major adjacency bonus when next to Entertainment Complexes and Water Parks, as well as wonders, so remember to put at least a Theater Square down next to both the Entertainment Complex and the Colosseum for easy 4 . Considering putting a Theater Square down next to any Entertainment Complex you intend to build, since can take you a long way as a science civilization. You only need to build enough Entertainment Complexes to cover your empire, since its tier 2 and 3 buildings grant in an area, so you won't have to go overboard with Theater Square either. 
Besides the Colosseum, the Temple of Artemis is also another wonder Scotland should definitely consider, since it grants an extra to all Camps, Pastures and Plantations within 4 tiles, which can be a lot. The best thing about this wonder is that you do have the relative flexibility to choose which cities will benefit from the extra by swapping tiles. The extra are not bound to the wonder itself, but directly to the tiles within its radius. Cities that own those tiles will benefit from , not the city that builds the wonder.
The two wonders above are crucial for Scotland, with the Colosseum being a must every game and the Temple of Artemis being slightly more situational depending on your spawn. Later in the game, building wonders with Scotland is very simple: they have absurd output and will dominate the race for . Kilwa Kisiwani is a wonder Scotland should definitely go for on a large or huge map, since those maps have overwhelming chances to have two industrial or scientific city-states. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus is another must-have, an extremely powerful and unique wonder when owned by anyone, but plays into Scottish strength even more. Ruhr Valley, Oxford University, Amundsen-Scott Research Station are also worthy candidates. Amundsen-Scott Research Station is an incredible wonder for Scotland, since it adds another empire-wide layer of and on top of what you already have. Scotland also has a much easier time building it as well, since it most likely will have Gustave Eiffel, or the ridiculously powerful Shah Jahān.
In terms of city-states, besides industrial and scientific city-states to activate the Kilwa's bonus, Buenos Aires and Zanzibar are the two most powerful city-states for Scotland to control: pretty much as long as you control Buenos Aires and don't remove your bonus resources, Scotland's cities will always be Ecstatic, and Zanzibar grants a whopping 12 to your empire, allowing you to play a little wider than normal. Cahokia, with the Cahokia Mounds improvement, can grant up to 2 , plus , , and to all cities. Otherwise, Hong Kong is very useful if you are trying to win a Science Victory. 
==== Bonuses from ====
Normally, a Happy city receives 10% extra in all yields, while an Ecstatic city receives 20%. A Happy Scottish city receives 15% extra in and and 30% extra if Ecstatic, on top of the normal bonuses to other yields. Scottish Ecstatic cities also receive 2 points from Campuses and 2 points from Industrial Zones, that is as strong as having the Oracle effect specifically for Campuses and Industrial Zones, but for every Ecstatic city. A Campus with a Library gets points, an Ecstatic Scottish city with a Campus and a Library gets twice as much. Once you finish constructing your -boosting infrastructure, you most likely will dominate the race for s and s to the end of the game. 
There is one great that synergizes well with Scotland, Ibn Khaldun, introduced in the Babylon Pack. He increases extra non- yields from by 20% (not 40% like the tooltip says), meaning Ecstatic Scottish cities will gain 24% all non- yields and 34% and . Now, 4% all non- yields don't sound like much, that is true, but since will always be your focus when playing as Scotland, it doesn't hurt to get a bit more out of something you would have to do anyway.
=== Bannockburn ===
Not much can be said about this ability, not because it is theoretically weak, but because the chance for this to come into play is too slim. In order to declare a Liberation War, you need to befriend a civilization and your friend needs to have at least one of their cities taken away by a third civilization. As you can see, there is a lot of requirements and setup for this, most of which lies beyond your control.
Nevertheless, +100% is really powerful, especially for a scientific empire. If you manage to meet the requirement to declare a Liberation War, the best advice is to declare it immediately when you can, use the bonus without actually liberating the taken city, make peace after 10 turns and repeat. By doing this, you can have 10 turns of double every 20 turns, which allows you to go for any Victory you want. You can try to weaken the enemy so that your friend stops getting bullied, as long as you do not actually take and return the lost city to your friend, this can be done indefinitely.
In order to increase the likelihood you will be able to declare a war of liberation, it is better to play on a land map where empires start contesting for land and resources from the very beginning. Also, the more crowded the map is, the higher the likelihood for conflicts. As Scotland, play as an isolationist civilization in the early game and refrain from establishing friendship too early. Ideally, you would want to befriend a civilization who has lost a city to another one. The good thing is your friend doesn't have to lose a city during the course of your friendship, they can lose a city before they become your friend, and you can still be able to declare a war of liberation. For this reason, exploration is quite important. Whenever you meet a new civilization, ask for Open Borders immediately so you can survey their territory. If you spot an oddly named city, like a city named "Victoria" belonging to Babylon, you know they must have taken that city away from someone (in this case, Canada). If you are not too experienced with city names in Civilization VI, make sure to check out the list of possible city names. Once you spot that, make every effort to befriend the bullied empire and denounce their bully, so you can declare wars of liberation. Since this casus belli is tough to satisfy, don't actually liberate the captured city, so you can rinse and repeat it; remember to peace out after the bonus runs out and declare war again when it is possible. Later in the game, after you finish Launch Earth Satellite, it is so much easier to get an aerial overview of every empire, which can allow you to receive the bonus in the last few steps toward a scientific victory.
=== Golf Course ===
Golf Courses bring revenue and happiness to the cities in which they're built, as well as in the Information Era. For maximum bonuses, build them next to City Centers and Entertainment Complexes. Golf Courses raise the Appeal of adjacent tiles and can even be built on Tundra and Snow, which tend to have higher Appeal than other types of terrain. This can help the Scots create places for National Parks if they need or additional . 
The main selling point of the Golf Course, however, is the bonus. Even at its highest, the bonus is way too insignificant at this point of the game, so think carefully before investing your and a district slot on an Entertainment Complex. Tiles adjacent to the City Center are often very valuable as well, because powerful wonders such as the Forbidden City can be built there. In order to maximize the number of tiles that receive the Appeal bonus, it's often advisable to just forget about the bonus and build Golf Courses away from the City Center. Doing so allows them to supply without requiring citizens to work them, which is what Scotland cares about the most.
The biggest downside of this improvement is its civic requirement. Reformed Church is a leaf civic, meaning it is the last civic of its branch and not required to unlock later civics, so most civilizations with no religious tendency will ignore it along with Theology and Divine Right. Scotland, however, has to discover all three in order to unlock their unique improvement. In your game, if you get lucky with multiple types of luxury resources, are able to build the all-important Colosseum, and your empire is not too wide, all your cities can reach Ecstatic status even without the extra from Golf Courses. Remember to constantly check City Status to see your level, so that you can decide for yourself when to unlock the Golf Course. If your is already at Ecstatic, there's no point in wasting your on discovering the three religious civics - you can leave it until later in the game when luxury resources and the Colosseum are no longer enough to keep your cities Ecstatic.
In Gathering Storm, the number of bonus goes up from 1 to 2 (1 higher); however, the thresholds go up by 2 (Happy now requires 3 , which used to be 1, and Ecstatic requires 5 , which used to 3). This change to the threshold makes the Golf Course, an already terribly underwhelming improvement, somehow manage to be even worse. While the April 2021 Update buffs a lot of weak improvements like the Kurgan and the Nubian Pyramid, the Golf Course is curiously left out. This makes the Golf Course, undoubtedly, the worst unique improvement in the game, and were it not for the Aztec Tlachtli, it would have been the worst piece of unique infrastructure as well. Think of this similarly to the civilization ability of Korea: it serves only as an extension of your strongest ability, and should never be your focus in any situation.
=== Highlander ===
In addition to being stronger than the Ranger it replaces, the Highlander receives combat bonuses in rough terrain. Since it replaces a unit that does not seem to have a lot of use, the Highlander also has every problem that the Ranger has. (Read more here.) If you are playing Scotland for the first time and want a regular, most representative feel of the civilization, this unit should serve only as 4 Era Score and nothing else. If you are looking for a new and more challenging gameplay experience, continue reading.
Although it is possible to use the Highlander in combat, it is very hard to do so effectively. Your goal is to gain the Tier III , Ambush, but since earlier recon units do not do a lot of combat because that is not their purpose, it is not possible to get a lot of pre-built Scouts to earn this and upgrade them later, even if you run Survey. Here are a few tips to earn the infamously hard to achieve promotion so your Highlander can actually have a purpose instead of the mere 4 Era Score:
# Make sure every Tribal Village and Natural Wonder is discovered by a Scout. For Natural Wonders in particular, you can know if you are close to one without discovering it by turning on the tile yields. If you see uncommonly high yields, especially with irregular type of yields (like , and ), on tiles that are not supposed to have those yields, stop going further and send a Scout that way. Make sure you have the Survey policy card running before discovering either Tribal Villages or Natural Wonders.
# If you are in a rather isolated region (like on an Island Plates or Archipelago map), make sure your Scout is level 2 by fighting Barbarians before letting them discover Tribal Villages. Since XP from fighting Barbarians after getting level 2 is drastically reduced, you can maximize your possible XP gain by doing this. However, if you know you are not alone, make sure to guard these Villages by patrolling other units next to them and remember to claim it, even not by Scouts, if you see other civs are close.
# The Terracotta Army gives a free promotion to every land unit. Make sure you amass a large army of Scouts and Highlanders before finishing this Wonder.
# ( only) With the Embrasure title, Victor can give a free starting promotion, though it is not very helpful since you can always do that by carefully alternating between fighting Barbarians and healing.
# ( only) The Skirmisher is not really a useful unit since you do not need your recon units fighting, but in Scotland's case, this unit is a helpful stepping stone to gain XP for your future Highlanders.
# Very important, but sometimes players forget: If you cannot gather enough XP for your Scouts to reach Ambush (which accounts for most, if not all, of your games), use your Highlanders to fight when running Survey. This works because Rangers are stronger than Musketmen with a ranged attack and not too bad on defense either, and your Highlanders are even stronger than that with situational bonuses on top.
Much like the Ranger it replaces, the Highlander does not seem to come into play too often, as scouting should definitely be demoted close to the bottom of your priority list in the Industrial Era and it does not do a better job at scouting than your regular Scout, either. Since Highlanders are worse than regular military units at fighting and require a prohibitive amount of setup to succeed, they should never be the factor you rely on to carry you to victory unless you are looking for something very, very unusual. 
Unexpectedly, the Highlander exerts zone of control, despite being a unit with ranged attacks. This detail is not mentioned anywhere in the game, but is coded in the game files and still fully functional to date. Coupled with the fact that the Highlander likes to fight in Hills and Woods, enemies' may be hindered even more when approaching the Highlander, so it can be somewhat meaningful in a defensive war, especially if you have many Hills and Woods tiles in your territory. However, as analyzed with great details above that this unit and the Ranger it replaces have little impact on the battlefield, this feature, whether intended or not, is nothing more than an interesting piece of trivia without actual gameplay implications. 
Unlike Civilization V, in Civilization VI, the site of the battle is actually the tile of the defender, not the attacker. Therefore, similar to other bonuses that grant extra Combat Strength when "fighting on" certain terrain, the Highlander will receive extra Combat Strength when it attacks a unit standing on Woods or Hills, regardless of where the Highlander stands. Also, the Highlander will receive extra Combat Strength on defense if it gets attacked while standing on Woods or Hills. This bonus does not stack with itself when the Highlander fights on a Wooded Hills.
=== Victory Types ===
Scotland is clearly geared towards a Scientific Victory, and you can achieve this really easily. Domination Victory is not out of the question, due to the technological advantage you will most certainly have over your enemies. A Cultural Victory is a bit harder, but not impossible. Although the Golf Courses provide a low and very conditional yields, it does give you Appeal for National Parks and Seaside Resorts, plus all the bonus you will have for constructing Theatre Squares and Wonders.
=== Counter Strategy ===
When playing against Scotland, you want to defeat them early. If you spawn beside them in the Ancient Era, it is a good idea to just run up to them and take one or more cities if possible to put them far behind everyone else. Alternatively, you can piggyback off their success with a Research Alliance, but you can be certain Scotland will not attack you as long as you have a city close by due to Robert the Bruce's agenda. In the mid-game, if Scotland has gotten ahead, try using light cavalry units to pillage Scotland's luxuries, Entertainment Complexes, Campuses and Golf Courses. Since all of their might revolves around their civilization ability, the more sources you can deny from them, the better. Suzerainty of Muscat and Zanzibar, the Colosseum, the 4 Great Merchants that grant Luxuries, these are the top contenders that Scotland wants in every game. They are not bad for other civilizations, so there is no harm done going a bit out of your way to snatch them from the hands of Scotland.
Once you have unlocked aerial units, if you still haven't put Scotland behind, use them to target the same areas as listed above. Regardless of era, if you notice that Scotland has placed s in Militaristic or Scientific city-states, it might be worth your while sending Spies to remove them. Finally, whether you are playing as them or not, Scotland's unique unit, the Highlander, is not great. They won't be a priority target on the battlefield, or a unit that you'll want to produce more than once for the Era Score.
== Civilopedia entry ==
== Cities ==
== Citizens ==
Males 	Females 	Modern males	Modern females
Amer 	Ada 	Angus 	Alison
Hamish 	Burunild	Colin 	Bonnie
Donnan 	Deirdre 	Douglas 	Fiona
Ewan 	Ellen 	Edmund 	Gillian
Giles 	Ese 	Harry 	Heather
Hugh 	Florie 	Simon 	Iona
Fergus 	Ysabell 	Mungo 	Rhona
Ranald 	Maggie 	Kenneth 	Jane
Dauid 	Muriel 	Ian 	Mary
Maelcolm	Orabilia	Wallace 	Kenna
== Trivia ==
* The Scottish civilization's symbol is the thistle, which has been the national emblem of Scotland since the reign of Alexander III.
* The Scottish civilization ability references a period of Scottish history characterized by great intellectual and scientific accomplishments.
==Soundtrack==
== Gallery ==
File:Highlander concept art (Civ6).jpg|The Highlander, Scotland's unique unit
File:Golf Course in-game (Civ6).jpg|The Golf Course, Scotland's unique improvement
File:Scottish capital.JPG|Scottish capital in Medieval Era
== Videos ==
thumb|center|300px|First Look: Scotland
== Related achievements ==
== See also ==
* British (Civ6)
* Scottish in other games
== External links ==
* https://civilization.com/news/entries/civilization-vi-rise-and-fall-robert-the-bruce-leads-scotland/
ru:Шотландия (Civ6)
Category:Scottish
Category:Civilization VI: Rise and Fall